Not a teamsheet to be seen.
Na Piarsaigh 4-14 Patrickswell 1-12.
Very disappointed by Patrickswell to be honest; the loss of Considine was huge but even still, the game was going against them.
Boylan was centre-forward and tbh he was quiet enough, but he still scored 1-1 and stuff like his tackling and his awareness of space were very good. Again, Considine had beaten him in a couple of 50-50s, would have been interesting if he had stayed on.
But if the Well were focused on him, the other wing-forwards for Na Piarsaigh did a lot of damage. I never thought Emmet McEvoy particularly stood out for the Limerick minors, he always looked tidy, but he showed a touch of class tonight. Two very well-taken goals and just looked like a very nice hurler. Adam McNamara on the other wing has lots & lots of pace, and runs at his man every time and won a good few frees.
The two fellas in the corners aren’t outstanding hurlers; Reuben McCarthy is very quick but his basic skills let him down a good bit. Did score one outrageous point from way out on the touchline. The other corner-forward, Jamie something, scored the 4th goal by practically running into the net. The Patrickswell full-back line wasn’t great on the night though.
Will Henn was named full-forward; started out the field a bit but moved in; he does have a real touch of class about him. I think I can see how he was never turned to by the Seniors, despite scoring all round him at Intermediate. He’s still a bit raw, he takes on silly shots and maybe runs into traffic a bit… but at the same time, his first touch is excellent and he is well able to take a score. Very dangerous.
Na Piarsaigh backs quite strong too, were much better set up on the puckouts, got around the man and just helped each other out. Think Gearoid Synott was centre-back, Pauric Heaney full-back, Lucas O’Sullivan wing-back, Conor Richardson at corner-back. Then Donal O’Connaill & Sean Long midfield, I think… a lot of big, strong fellas and they used that to their advantage.
A word for the goalkeeper too, Sean McKeogh I think it was; excellent puckouts, very safe, made a couple of big saves too. But the puckouts were a lot better than his opponents and it made a big difference on the night.
I was disappointed with a few of the big Patrickswell players. John Flynn was probably the best of them in attack and Brian Fitz did a decent job at centre-back. I didn’t notice Darragh Ahern at all (he may very well not have been playing), but the Patrickswell full-forward line was pretty much cleaned out.
They played Jason Gillane as an extra man out around the middle and he kind of just hung around rucks while they were losing that battle. Calvin Carroll seems to be the epitomy of a summer hurler, that’s two matches in a row now where the game has just passed him by. He is talented but wants to pick up a loose ball.
Cillian O’Reilly had a couple of stupid shots at wing-forward and was struggling but did better when he went back. The Patrickswell backs did have a tendency to just foul every time they were run at though.
Considine went off after about 20 minutes; he looks to be the real deal lads. I’ve seen him a few times now and he does seem to exude class. I hope for the sake of the Limerick U-20s that his injury isn’t too bad; I’d have him at full-back every day of the week. Think he’s a future Limerick senior.
