Masters of Munster, Gunners now eye grander peaks
Stephen O'Keeffe, right, and Dessie Hutchinson of Ballygunner celebrate. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Ballygunner (Waterford) 2-24 Clonlara (Clare) 0-17
In such awesome demonstrations of force, hurling is reduced to a numbers game. A third consecutive Munster title for Ballygunner, their fourth in six years, five if you exclude the cancelled championship of 2020. Verily, they deserve to be spoken of in reverent tones.
Alongside Blackrock, they take their place in the province’s hurling pantheon. Winning just the one All-Ireland title, and a snatched one at that, may stick in the craw a bit but they couldn’t do anything about it here.
On the scoreboard, this may not have been as comprehensive as the trimming they doled out to Kilmallock in Cork two years ago but it felt like it. By the third quarter, the on-the-whistle match reports were being drafted. Ballygunner were not going to be touched.
The cold that hit Clonlara in FBD Semple Stadium was as chilling as the hard facts; they weren’t strong enough to compete with Ballygunner. Instead, they became a statistic – for the sixth straight championship, the Gunners had felled the Clare champions.
It helped that conditions were much to their liking. For piercing the thick Thurles air from distance, Pauric Mahony deserves praise but otherwise the expansive pitch and no whisper of a breeze was much to their liking.
“There was space today,” agreed Ballygunner manager Darragh O’Sullivan. “The teams were set up the last day (v Na Piarsaigh) to close down space whereas today it was more free-flowing. Different day, wind makes a huge difference too. there was no wind, perfect condition, your puckouts can go further and there is more space on the field.
“The beauty of things now is that when you look at the pitches, when you look at the stadiums, the surfaces are more important than the surroundings. The players need to play on a good surface and we have had that today and we had it in Limerick the last day.”Â
When someone gets around to documenting the shimmering era of theirs, after Harry Ruddle’s sensational winner in the All-Ireland final in 2022, Kevin Mahony’s 18th minute goal here may rate as the team’s greatest score.Â
Under the Ryan Stand, Peter Hogan stepped back to send a short stick-pass to Mikey Mahony just inside the 65-metre line. He sprayed the ball across to Dessie Hutchinson on the 20m whitewash but had the good conscience to run forward and remain in the attack, receiving the pass from Hutchinson and handing it off for his brother Kevin to apply the finish.
There may have been a question mark about the legitimacy of that last hand-off but as a team score it was a sensational one. "Just watched the second goal, which was unbelievable,” smiled O’Sullivan. “That's the skill set these guys have and add a bit of work-rate.”Â
Appropriate that the score featured two of its best players, Peter Hogan and Kevin Mahony. They work relentlessly to spoil the quality of Clonlara’s ball from defence was a key feature of one of their most satisfying final shows. For the second game in a row, Pauric Mahony’s scoring total read double figures too.
But on this occasion it was his younger sibling who sparkled most. “He's very strong inside and he holds the ball up well,” said another of the famous clan, centre-back Philip about Kevin.
“In fairness, he probably didn't do a huge amount on the scoreboard the last day but he got a huge amount of tackles in. That's the way it goes. Sometimes it frees up for you the following day."
Seimi Gully’s goalline was breached, however, less than two minutes later as Dessie Hutchinson collected Patrick Fitzgerald’s diagonal ball and finished with authority.
Points followed from Mikey and Kevin Mahony in a 1-3 blitz that propelled Ballygunner into a seven-points advantage, 1-7 to 0-3.
A Diarmuid Stritch point temporarily cooled Ballygunner’s courage but then came Kevin Mahony’s goal. Pauric Mahony’s 25th minute point, his sixth, extended Ballygunner’s lead to 10. It stretched to 11 before the interval before Clonlara finished out with the last two points of the half.
Perhaps a little dissatisfied with their 2-12 to 0-9 half-time advantage, Ballygunner pounded Clonlara with five blows without reply between the 39th and 46th minutes to conclude the contest long before the final whistle.
Joint-captain and goalkeeper Stephen O’Keeffe was a bystander for so much of the game but he showed his dexterity to keep out Ian Galvin’s low shot in the 46th minute. At the other end, Patrick Fitzgerald eventually found his range with a couple of points after posting four earlier wides.
Hutchinson blasted into the side-netting late on as Ballygunner slowed down as they ran their bench, affording as many of their panel to soak in the on-field experience of an unprecedented achievement.
: Pauric Mahony (0-10, 5 frees, 2 65s); K. Mahony (1-4); D. Hutchinson (1-1); P. Hogan (0-4); P. Fitzgerald (0-2): M. Mahony, C. Sheahan, H. Ruddle (0-1 each).
: M. O’Loughlin (0-6, 4 frees, 1 65); D. Stritch (0-3); J. Conlon, P. O’Loughlin (0-2 each); I. Galvin, A. Moriarty, D. McMahon, M. Stritch (0-1 each).
: S. O’Keeffe (j-c); I. Kenny, B. Coughlan, T. Foley; S. O’Sullivan, Philip Mahony (j-c), R. Power; C. Sheahan, P. Leavey; P. Hogan, Pauric Mahony, M. Mahony; P. Fitzgerald, D. Hutchinson, K. Mahony.
H. Ruddle for R. Power (50); B. O’Keeffe for K. Mahony, C. Power for C. Sheahan (both 54); G. Corbett for Pauric Mahony, S. Harney for T. Foley (58).
: S. Gully; G. Powell, L. Ryan, M. Clancy; P. O’Loughlin, D. McMahon, D. Fitzgerald; A. Moriarty, J. McMahon (c); J. Conlon, C. Galvin, C. O’Meara; D. Stritch, M. O’Loughlin, I. Galvin.
: C. Moriarty for C. Galvin (37); D. Moloney for M. O’Loughlin, M. Stritch for C. O’Meara (both 48); B. McLeish for J. McMahon (53); J. McCormack for L. Ryan (58).
: C. O’Regan (Cork).
Scoring five points on the bounce early in the second half, Ballygunner were looking home and hosed. Clonlara couldn’t get enough time on the ball to really make goal openings happen.
John Conlon started well at right half forward and scored his side’s opening point in both halves but was too quiet for Clonlara’s liking. Maybe giving Philip Mahony something to think about in the middle would have been an idea. Ballygunner retreated to flood the middle and gave great space to their inside men.
Two goals for Ballygunner, none for Clonlara. Green flags was the only way Clonlara were going to be down the champions.
Like last year, Ballygunner qualify from Munster looking like world-beaters but they will be determined not to come a-cropper in a second successive semi-final. They have to cope better with these great expectations.
Nothing to report. Ballygunner should have a clean bill of health heading into the All-Ireland series.
A composed debut Munster senior hurling final for Ciarán O’Regan. He offered some good advantage and the doubt about the validity of the handpass in the making of Ballygunner’s second goal seemed to be slight.
Ballygunner face Galway champions St Thomas’ possibly in Thurles on Saturday or Sunday week.
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