IT will be a battle of Limerick and Cork in the Munster Intermediate and Junior Club Hurling Championships.
Mungret St Pauls and Caherline are both in Munster Club Hurling action this weekend. On Saturday Mungret face Courcey Rovers in the TUS Gaelic Grounds with Caherline travelling to Cork to take on Ballygiblin 24 hours later.
Mungret St Pauls v Courcey Rovers (Munster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship Semi-Final)
Saturday December 11 in the TUS Gaelic Grounds at 1.30pm
On Saturday, Mungret St Pauls will look to build on their impressive Premier Intermediate success as they face Courcey Rovers who were crowned Cork kingpins just a fortnight ago.
In contrast, Mungret were winning Limerick honours on the same day as Kilmallock in October.
In the meantime, Mungret reached the semi-finals of the Premier U21 championship with a number of that side playing for the adult team.
This will be Mungret’s first venture into Munster since 2006, when they were crowned Junior champions, missing out on the province in 2016 after winning the Intermediate championship with Monaleen as PIHC winners representing Limerick.
Courcey Rovers had to do it the hard way in the Cork decider, trailing by as many as eight points against Castlelyons in the final.
Castlelyons were pre match favourites heading into the game, losing the 2020 decider to Blarney but Courcey ensured a second successive final loss for their opponents as they won by a solitary point 1-19 to 1-18.
Mungret Manager Liam Cronin has signified the challenge on hand saying,
“They’re a very good team. Certainly a step up form anything we have played this year as you’d expect being the Premier Intermediate Champions of Cork. Their workrate was excellent. They showed real heart to come back from eight points down. They’re going to pose a formidable threat for us on Saturday.”
But Mungret were streets ahead of everyone else in Limerick this year with little to choose between the sides.
Verdict: Mungret to make most of Limerick venue and scrape into provincial final.
Caherline v Ballygiblin(Munster Junior Club Hurling Championship)
Sunday December 12 in Kildorrery at 1.30pm.
Caherline will also end a lengthy wait for provincial hurling when they travel to Cork to take on Ballygiblin.
Fourteen years ago Caherline represented Limerick in the Junior championship with Andrew Brennan captaining that side.
The star forward was instrumental in their 2021 success, hitting 0-10 in the decider against St Kierans a month ago.
Their opponents claimed Cork honours a week later with Cork senior footballer and current AFL player Mark Keane crucially finding the net in the final quarter as they beat Dromtarriffe.
Darragh O’Flynn, who lined out with the Cork U20s in their defeat of Limerick in the Munster final last year is a standout name for the Rebel outfit who will be favoured to reach the final.
But, Caherline proved that they excel as outsiders, being written off time after time in the Limerick championship.
Verdict: Caherline to give a good account of themselves but Ballygiblin to move into the final.
Should either of the Limerick sides win their respective semi-finals, they will move on to play in the Munster final on December 8/9.
Listen to previews of both games in this week’s Treaty Talk, starting from 24.26 below.
The post PREVIEW | Mungret St Pauls and Caherline face Cork opposition in Munster club semi-finals appeared first on Sporting Limerick.
