Anthony Daly: Ballyhale showed just why they are hurling's greatest club

In the end, Ballygunner broke but it was more that Ballyhale broke them

Mon, 19 Dec, 2022 - 12:52

It was exciting to wake up yesterday morning, look out my front window and be able to see green grass after looking at nothing only white frost all week. The car park around the pub was like an ice rink so it was refreshing to be able to hit the road to Dublin with peace of mind and not have to worry about trying to stay between the ditches until I hit the M7.

It was exciting to be heading to Croke Park a week before Christmas for such an attractive double-header, including one of the most eagerly anticipated club games ever. Being honest though, I wasn’t as pumped up as I thought I would be. Any genuine hurling person was only watching one game yesterday but you still can’t ignore the elephant in the room when the elephant is that big and the room is that small.

The World Cup final only takes place once every four years and, while the GAA outlined their reasons for fixing the Ballygunner-Ballyhale game for the same time, I didn’t think those reasons were good enough. Especially when there was an alternative.

Cork is an hour and a half from Ballyhale. It’s an hour from Waterford. The Páirc Ui Chaoimh pitch is like a carpet so what was wrong with playing the game there Saturday afternoon or evening? I know all four clubs wanted to play in Croke Park but there are times when the supporters’ views have to be considered.

More than anything, I believe it would have been a gesture to show that the GAA are bigger than many people believed them to be by staging that game yesterday at the time they did. They could still have played the Dunloy-St Thomas’ game in Croker at 1.30 but it was just a shame that so few saw such a brilliant contest. That was reflected in the attendance because there were only a handful of neutrals in Croke Park.

Still, I really enjoyed both games, and the occasion. The quality, especially the finishing, wasn’t at the level you’d expect from these four sides but I felt there was an element of tiredness at the root of that malaise after such a long season. But they were two really good contests which were facilitated by the excellent refereeing of John Keenan and Liam Gordon.

At one stage early in the second half of the Ballyhale-Ballygunner game, I posted a tweet; ‘Who will break first? The tension was huge at that stage which was reflected in the high wide count during that period of the match.

In the end, Ballygunner broke but it was more that Ballyhale broke them. Their big guns really stood up near the end. They were just able to get their hands on the ball in a way that Ballygunner couldn’t.

One of the standout highlights of the match though, was the display of Stephen O’Keeffe, which had to be one of the best goalkeeping performances ever seen in Croke Park. TJ Reid eventually beat him with his second penalty but it was a special strike from TJ. It had to be.

Ballyhale were the better team but they were also the cuter side. Adrian Mullen spent most of the second half between midfield and the half-back line but Ballyhale were willing to take one of their best shooters away from the scoring zone to ensure that their defence was shored up at the other end. Ballygunner had been shooting the lights out but 0-16 was never going to be enough to beat a side with Ballyhale’s firepower.

They just adapted. Joey Holden looked in big trouble early on but he just grew into the match and was a towering presence by the end of it. Socky should have been man-of-the-match but Joey would have been next in line in my opinion.

Colin Fennelly was frustrated at times. He could have had a few more scores but he is still some target man to have close to goal. The way he won the first penalty also underlined a player who knows his strengths so well. Eoin Cody also made some big plays too late on when Ballyhale really needed him. Darragh Corcoran was immense too at times.

Philip Mahony had a huge game. Dessie Hutchinson had his moments too but Ballygunner just didn’t have enough lads operating on the same level as their opponents. Ballyhale just refused to be beaten but their defiance, as much as their class, offered more proof as to why they are the greatest club in the history of the game.

In the first game, Dunloy were such deserving winners that their four-point winning margin was an injustice to their dominance for most of the second half. St Thomas’ did lay siege to their goal late on but I felt that the game was long over by that stage.

St Thomas’ have been brilliant Galway champions to win five-in-a-row but no small club with their playing population – no matter how good they are – can afford to be without four starters. Shane Cooney, James Regan and Damien Sherry were already out – even if Cooney came on – but then they lost Darragh Burke in the warm-up. He did come on but Darragh clearly wasn’t right.

St Thomas’ didn’t play well but Dunloy didn’t let them. St Thomas’ had the bigger names but Dunloy had by far the better performers. Ryan McGarry and Kevin Molloy were outstanding in the centre of their defence while Nigel Elliott, Keelan Molloy and Conal Cunning were always threatening up front.

Dunloy have a great tradition and pedigree at this level but this team hasn’t, which made yesterday’s performance all the more satisfying again. They’ll be huge underdogs going into the final now but I think a big advantage is that their manager Gregory O’Kane – a great hurling man I have huge time for – played on the sides which lost four finals in the past. His experience will be invaluable, especially in the build-up.

I’m sure Gregory and the players stayed around to watch the second game but the majority of the Dunloy supporters didn’t. Neither did most of the St Thomas’s crowd. That was understandable when they wanted to get out of the capital quickly and not risk gridlock on the M50 on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

On the other hand, I’d say most of them were also trying to make it home for the second half of the World Cup final. You couldn’t blame them.