Anthony Daly: Ballyea have knowhow but Gunners dialed up the heat like champions do

In fairness to the Barrs, they couldn’t have done much more than they did after losing Conor Cahalane so early to a red card

Mon, 21 Nov, 2022 - 09:30

Anthony Daly

In the run up to Sunday, I contacted two high ranking officials in the Clare and Limerick county boards to ensure I got to see both games with peace of mind. Those phone calls facilitated my brisk escape route from Ennis – where I was parked in the Cloister car park - to a safe passage into the car park at the back of the terracing in the Gaelic Grounds to make sure I was sitting comfortably in the Mackey Stand before the start of the Ballygunner-Na Piarsaigh match.

All good plans, though, can easily come apart with extra-time and penalties in the modern game. I had set myself up in ‘The Shed’ – the North stand – in Cusack Park but the din from the loudspeaker blaring out from the nest of ‘Barrs supporters was such an assault on my eardrums that I moved over to the far side to watch the second half.

Part of that manoeuvre though, was motivated from having one eye on making a quick getaway at the back of the Friary goals before the final whistle. As soon as Brandon O’Connell put Ballyea one point ahead in additional time, I bolted for the car. I thought Ballyea were in the clear and only heard about the drama around the last second ’65 as I was driving up through Abbey Street. I didn’t see the miss from Ben Cunningham but it was a shame for him because the young Barrs man was outstanding.

In fairness to the Barrs, they couldn’t have done much more than they did after losing Conor Cahalane so early to a red card. It’s great being at matches live but you don’t have any access to TV replays so I was texting fellas straight afterwards to try and find out what happened. Some of the feedback was mixed but it’s hard to make any comment on the dismissal when I didn’t see it.

It was always going to be an uphill struggle for St Finbarr’s being a man down with the way Ballyea play, especially having Jack Browne sitting, but they really dug in and almost ground it out. They just came up against a crowd who specialise in that kind of stuff. You couldn’t say Ballyea are playing great hurling this year but they are just so hard to beat.

A scoreline of 1-12 won’t win much at this level but it was still enough here. You can keep a guy like Tony Kelly down for only so long too, but he will eventually step up, which he did in the second half, especially with his two class points, as well as taking over the freetaking duties from Niall Deasy.

Ballyea looked a little leggy at times, which is probably a legacy of so many of their players having had long football seasons too with their various football clubs. But Ballyea just know how to get the job done when the game is in the melting pot in the dying moments.

The newly laid pitch in the Gaelic Grounds is in great shape, which added to the quality of the second game, but you’d still have to say that the standard was that touch higher. Na Piarsaigh played some great stuff in the first half but they also appeared to be outworking Ballygunner, along with savaging them in the middle third.

Their forwards were buzzing but Ballygunner really lifted their performance and workrate after the break. On the other hand, Na Piarsaigh surrendered much of their initiative early in the third quarter with poor execution. They dropped two shots short into Stephen O’Keeffe, which would have shoved the margin out to seven points. To compound those errors, Na Piarsaigh conceded a couple of soft frees. And suddenly the margin was back to three points.

I thought Mikey Casey was in trouble at half-time. Whatever rush of blood Mike got for the second goal, it was a rash decision because Paddy Fitzgerald stayed down and he had the composure to keep his head and cooly slot the ball to the net. It was a worry to see Mike go off with six minutes to play. Given the horrific knee injuries he has had, I just hope to God it’s nothing serious this time around.

Ballygunner just dialled up the heat but they went to another level in quality around the field, especially Pauric Mahony, Paddy Leavy and Conor Sheahan, while Peter Hogan set the tone for their immense workrate in the second half.

Na Piarsaigh will rue their missed chances but they were too one dimensional with their puckouts, while their scoring rate slowed down to a trickle in the second half compared to Ballygunner’s. In fairness to the Gunners, champions are champions and they really showed why they have the Tommy Moore Cup sitting in the clubhouse below in Waterford.

After this performance, they’ll be favourites to hold on to it for another year. On the way home, I was listening to John Mullane on RTÉ Radio 1 who was gushing in his praise of Ballygunner. Mul said the only team that will put it up to the Gunners are Ballyhale Shamrocks but Ballyea will be eating up that kind of stuff over the next couple of weeks.

Ballygunner will be hot favourites but Ballyea will put up a ferocious battle. Ballyea will also remind themselves that have won a Munster title too in the recent past. Ballygunner certainly won’t have it all their own way.