All the Liam McCarthy celebrations in Limerick will need to be put on hold for the next few weeks as the club championship takes center stage. The third round of Limerick SHC resumes tomorrow night. Hawkeye Sidekick will look to predict the outcomes.
Group 1: Top Two Lock Horns
Local neighbors Patrickswell and Ballybrown will kick this group action off, always interesting games to say the least when these two get together. Ballybrown are playing knockout hurling; need a result here to have any chance of reaching at least a quarter final berth. Patrickswell have being inconsistent so far; a good win over Adare in round two then saw a three point reversal to Doon in round two.
Two teams who need to win to gain momentum for the rest of the championship. For Ballybrown to win, Alan O’Connor will need to be on point in open play and placed balls. The attacking threat of Patrickswell led by Gillane, Lynch should be sufficient to see Well home in this one, would not be surprised if a couple of red cards are issued. Well to quell the early Ballybrown storm and win by five points.
Adare like Ballybrown have lost their first two rounds against Patrickswell and Kilmallock by a combined twenty-three points. The points difference is not on Adare’s side and could be critical come the end of the group phase but they need to play significantly better to beat a Doon side who on their day is a match for anyone.
The East Limerick side will be buoyed by their All Ireland winners and plenty will be expected of Pat Ryan and Barry Murphy to provide keynote performances to alert Limerick management. Adare will depend on Declan Hannon and John Fitzgibbon to provide a platform; a lack of goal threat might be fatal here for Adare. Doon for me by four points.
Kilmallock and Na Piarsaigh is the mouth watering fixture of this championship round. Both come into this contest with 100% records and one will probably go at the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday night. So many intriguing match-ups; the midfield battle looks one to watch. Hanley vs. O’Donoghue will be fascinating.
The Na Piarsaigh juggernaut provided that they are rested and ready to go look the form side again this season. No genuine weak links and with the likes of Shane Dowling, Peter Casey keen to show their worth to county management, Kilmallock are going to have knuckle down and defend well throughout.
Close encounter as Kilmallock’s inside full forward line will take handling. Graeme Mulcahy in particular will pose a serious threat. Despite good moments from the South Limerick side, Na Piarsaigh hold the aces down the stretch and a potential two point win for the City side.
Group 2: All to play for
The second group in this competition has seen a variation in results. Four East Limerick teams coupled with Monaleen and Knockainey has seen only South Liberties as the only team to retain their 100% record.
Ahane and Knockainey will lock horns in Cappamore on Friday night. Tricky game to call; long layoff for both sides in the championship and Knockainey did beat Ahane last season in the championship.
Both sides have indifferent form heading into this tussle. Ahane’s opening round win against Cappamore was hard work and then disciplinary issues saw Ahane succumb to Murroe Boher narrowly.
The Ahane side has a nice mix of youth and experience. The Morrissey brothers will look to create a platform and think they have sufficient scoring quality to get over the line but it will be far from a classic. Ahane’s scoring return needs to improve or else Knockainey will scent another win over the East Limerick side.
Murroe Boher and Cappamore face off in Caherconlish. A local derby game and one where form goes out the window. Both sides will look to push on with victory here. Murroe Boher started with a one point loss to South Liberties but then beat Ahane by a similar margin.
Cappamore have shown organization and fight in their first two games. They were unlucky not to take a share of the spoils from Ahane in round one and then drew against Monaleen in their second outing. I would not be surprised if another draw was in the offing; two closely matched sides.
South Liberties can take a massive step towards the quarter finals if they can beat Monaleen. South Liberties will look to Barry Nash to set the attacking platform. Monaleen have being out of sorts in recent rounds. Their opening round win over Knockainey was unconvincing and then had to be content with a share of the spoils over Cappamore.
South Liberties for me are a better side than the two sides faced by Monaleen so far; a lot will depend on which side has built momentum in training in recent weeks. This is a dangerous fixture for South Liberties; edge it to the East Limerick side but it should be closer than some pundits may think given the long layoff between rounds two and three of this championship.