O’Regan and Kelly dropped ahead of hurling final
They are replaced by Michael Frisby and the long-serving John Meaney, both of whom were introduced as second half substitutes in the semi-final defeat of Mullinahone and did well enough in the view of manager Jim Greene and his fellow selectors to get selected.
Positional changes see Eoin McGrath move from corner forward to partner his older brother Roy in the middle of the field, with Eoin Kelly moving from that sector to left half forward.
Both positional changes were very much on the cards after McGrath’s heroics when he took over at midfield for the second half against Mullinahone with Kelly also thriving on his switch to the attack from where he scored the brace of goals that ultimately decided the game in Sion’s favour.
Otherwise it’s a case of as you were with youthful goalkeeper Ian O’Regan fronted by a defensive sextet that all but picked itself. The recall of veteran John Meaney will certainly add to the experience of the Waterford champions attack in which Ken McGrath on the 40 will again be the key player.
Meanwhile, no-one has been more an integral part of the acute Waterford/Clare hurling rivalry of the past five years than Mount Sion’s Tipperary-born defender Brian Flannery.
Equally, no-one is better positioned to assess the strength and standing of hurling in the Banner than the same Brian Flannery, so when he expounds on the enormity of the challenge facing Mount Sion against Sixmilebridge in Sunday’s Munster club championship final you better believe him.
The man from Kiladangan in north Tipp, who has become more Mount Sion than the Mount Sioners themselves since he transferred club and county allegiance to the Decies almost a decade ago, is adamant that on the form of the respective finalists Sixmilebridge will go into the decider in the deserving role of favourites.
“Of course we are due one up on Clare both at club and county level, but if we are to capture only our second provincial title next Sunday (the first was all of 21 years ago in 1981) we are going to have to improve very significantly on the performances we turned in against both Adare and Mullinahone on our way to this final,” Flannery says.
He said the domination of the Munster club campaign by Clare teams (they’ve won six of the last seven finals) is the most striking tribute that can be paid to the state of club hurling in the Banner.
Brian Flannery needs no reminding either of the imbalance in the Waterford/Clare results at both club and county level over the past half decade. “It’s depressingly one-sided in favour of Clare,” he says.
There was defeat at the hands of St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield in the Munster semi-final in 1998 and two years later Sunday’s opponents proved far too good for them in the final, winning much more decisively than the 2-17 to 3-8 scoreline might suggest.
These games aside, Ballygunner had also agonisingly failed to Clare opposition when the winning post was in sight before eventually making the long-overdue breakthrough in last year’s decider against Blackrock.
“It’s a poor record against Clare opposition, and we have been on the wrong side of final scores far too often in all of our recent meetings with teams from the Banner,” Flannery said.
Flannery feels that the two years since they last played the Bridge has made a huge difference for many of their younger players, most especially Eoin Kelly and Eoin McGrath. “Both have well and truly come of age,” he said.
Flannery is adamant that 21 years without this Munster club championship is far too long for a club of Mount Sion’s standing and stature.
Their record is not nearly as good as it should be at provincial level, he said, but at least they now have another opportunity of improving on it.
And Flannery is quietly confident that Sunday can be their day.
MOUNT SION: I.O’Regan; J. O’Meara. A. Kirwan. B. Flannery; J. Cleere (capt.). T. Browne. B. Greene; R. McGrath. E. McGrath; M. Frisby. K. McGrath, E. Kelly; M.White, S. Ryan, J. Meaney.
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