Win perfect end to mixed weekend for busy Denis Walsh

For successful Ballygunner manager, Denis Walsh, it has been a rollercoaster weekend.

On Saturday the former Cork hurling boss managed his native St Catherine’s club in a Cork senior camogie decider against All-Ireland Champions Milford before coming up short, but the former Cork defender and 1990 double winner bounced back 24 hours later to help guide the Waterford giants to a county SHC title.

“After the camogie loss I didn’t want to be remembered for another kind of ‘double,” smiled Walsh. “So having taken the disappointment of Saturday’s loss it was a great feeling to win this title.

“The Ballygunner lads showed great character and this win means a lot to every man, woman and child of the club.”

“It has been an emotional couple of weeks for the club, but fair play to the players, they stepped up to the mark today and dug out a victory.

“We malfunctioned for a 10-minute period before half-time. We lost our way. Tallow, in fairness, found a way back into the game and drew level by half time. But, after half time, players like David and Brian O’Sullivan came to the fore and, as a team, we enjoyed a good period midway through the second half.

“At half time we said we needed to improve on our shooting. We needed to move the ball more as well and we did that during what you might call our golden period in the second half.

“It has been an emotional couple of weeks and as an outsider you sometimes don’t realise what a loss Paul Foley is to the club. But the lads got up for the match and showed great character.”

It was a bitterly disappointing loss for Tallow manger, Terence McSweeney.

He pointed out how proud he was of his players, emphasising that it took “huge dedication” for his side to reach yesterday’s decider.

“People mightn’t realise it but most of our panel don’t live in Tallow. They’re either living and working in Cork or Waterford city and we have a good number of guys who are in third level as well. But they never complained about the travel or the commitment, and to get to where we did took a huge amount of sacrifice.

“Ballygunner obviously had their homework done on us. We played to the end and I’m proud of what we have achieved this year.”