Mullinahone are looking forward to Munster football semi-final

Mullinahone 1-13 Athea 0-12

Mullinahone CJ Kickhams battled to a 1-13 to 0-12 victory in West Limerick on Saturday afternoon to march on to the AIB Munster Junior Football Championship semi-finals in a fortnight’s time, where they will take on Cork champions Canovee.

Full forward Ned O’Meara proved central to the Kickhams’ victory, with the 2025 Tipperary minor football captain kicking a remarkable personal tally of 1-9 as the Premier County men recovered from a slow start to surge to victory in Athea.

It was a tale of two quarters in the opening half, with Athea and Mullinahone enjoying complete control respectively. Sharpshooter O’Meara got CJ Kickhams off to the perfect start with a point from his first placed ball in the third minute, but the hosts soon settled into the contest, scoring 0-5 without reply.

Seán Ryan landed a superb two-point effort in the fifth minute before a quickfire brace of scores from Andrew O’Riordan and a CJ Hunt two-pointer suddenly had the West Limerick men 0-5 to 0-1 in front by the seventh minute. Moments later, it looked as though the hosts were in for a goal as John Ryan slipped through Denis Greaney, but Graham Horan made a superb save as Mullinahone scrambled the ball clear.

At the other end, Ned O’Meara landed another placed ball, only for Seán Ryan to curl a glorious effort with the outside of his boot over the crossbar to push Athea 0-6 to 0-2 ahead by the quarter-hour mark. From that point, however, the Tipperary men seized complete control.

Ned O’Meara kept Kickhams in touch with another placed ball before following it up in the 22nd minute with a glorious two-pointer. Wing-back Sam Rowan became Mullinahone’s second scorer with his effort soon afterwards to level the game at 0-6 apiece.

However, the decisive score of the half came three minutes from the interval. Darragh Linnane broke the Athea defensive line before offloading to O’Meara, who made no mistake from close range, rifling his shot into the roof of the net. In the dying embers of the opening period, substitute Matthew Dirreen added another score as the men from the Premier County held a 1-7 to 0-6 advantage going into the break.

O’Meara kicked another placed ball to open the scoring eight minutes after the restart, before Brian O’Connor blazed wide for Athea at the other end with the goal at his mercy. Shane Mulvihill eventually ended the hosts’ 28-minute scoring drought in the 40th minute with a placed ball, only for O’Meara to cancel it out at the other end.

Trailing 1-9 to 0-7, the Athea challenge was dealt a further blow in the 43rd minute when wing-back Callum Buckley received a black card. Kickhams quickly punished the numerical advantage with scores from O’Meara and Darragh Linnane.

In the closing minutes, a brace of Mulvihill frees reduced the gap to five, only for scores from O’Meara and a superb solo effort from Sam Rowan to keep the hosts at arm’s length as the clock ticked towards the red.

However, there was still time for late drama. Buckley curled over a stylish effort early into the three minutes of stoppage time before Mullinahone were reduced to 14 men, with Daire O’Brien receiving his marching orders for a second yellow card.

Mulvihill kicked a two-pointer soon afterwards as hopes of an unlikely comeback were briefly rekindled but it was too little, too late as Kickhams held on to secure their safe passage into the final four. Their reward is a Munster semi-final meeting with Cork champions Canovee, who booked their semi-final ticket with an 18-point victory over Clare's Parteen.

Athea: Tomas Ahern; Eoin Sheehan, Tommy Quaid, James Hunt; Callum Buckley, Denis Greaney, Tomas G Ahern; Evan Curry, Micheal Dalton; Andrew O’Riordan, Andy Ahern, Brian O’Connor; Daire O’Shea, CJ Hunt, Shane Mulvihill.

Scorers: Shane Mulvihill 0-5 (2f, 1 2p), Sean Ryan 0-3 (1 2p), CJ Hunt 0-2 (1 2p), Callum Buckley 0-1, Andrew O’Riordan 0-1.

Substitutes: James Broderick for A O’Riordan (42 mins), Sean Twomey for CJ Hunt (50 mins), Pierce O’Brien for E Sheehan (60 mins), Darren Murphy for A Ahern (60 mins).

Mullinahone: Graham Horan; Conor O’Brien, Eoin Treacy, Alex Britton; Darragh Linnane, Sean Curran, Daire O’Brien; Paul Curran, Alan Curran; Enda Keane, Martin Kehoe, Sam Rowan; Kevin Walzer, Ned O’Meara, Eoin O’Dwyer.

Scorers: Ned O’Meara 1-9 (6f, 1 2p), Sam Rowan 0-2, Darragh Linnane 0-1, Matthew Dirreen 0-1.

Substitutes: Matthew Dirreen for K Walzer (14 mins), Rian O’Dwyer for E O’Dwyer (56 mins), Cillian Dirreen for N O’Meara (60 mins).

Referee: Eoin Keane (Clare).