Waterford SHC round up: Austin Gleeson shoots Mount Sion into quarter finals

Elsewhere Ballygunner fired a warning shot to the chasing pack in the Déise with a 23 point demolition of Dungarvan in the Fraher Field sunshine on Saturday evening (5-22 to 2-8).

INTO THE QUARTERS: Mount Sion's Austin Gleeson in action.

Austin Gleeson struck 1-11 including an injury time winner as Mount Sion edged city rivals De La Salle 2-17 to 2-16 at Walsh Park last night and qualified for the quarter finals of the Waterford SHC.

In a cracking contest, the 2016 Hurler of the Year fired home a close range free with five minutes left and then nailed the match winning dead ball from his own 65. 2-21 in two games for Gleeson. 

Corner forward Adam Regan was another standout performer. The teenager rifled a shot to the roof of the net in the first half and won four scoreable frees. In the dying seconds, Sion defender Stephen O’Neill made a mighty fetch to clinch the narrowest of victories.

Top scorer Reuben Halloran (1-8) and substitute Eddie Meaney netted for De La Salle while Jack Twomey slotted three points from play. Last year’s runners-up led by four points nine minutes into the second half but a dozen wides proved costly.

Ballygunner fired a warning shot to the chasing pack in the Déise with a 23 point demolition of Dungarvan in the Fraher Field sunshine on Saturday evening (5-22 to 2-8).

Philip Mahony, Dessie Hutchinson and Patrick Fitzgerald all sat out the game through injury but Conor Tobin (2-1), Cormac Power (1-4) and Aaron O'Neill (1-1) all grabbed the chance to impress.

"I was thrilled with the lads that came in," manager Darragh O'Sullivan admitted afterwards. "That's what we're looking for. We honestly think that we can go deep into our panel."

Pauric Mahony also looked sharp with nine points (five from play) while younger brother Kevin shot 1-3 from play. Stephen O’Keeffe pulled off two superb saves from Patrick Curran and Michael Kiely.

It’s now 54 games unbeaten in Waterford for the 2022 All Ireland champions. Since the 2013 county final loss to Passage, the men in red and black have played 65, won 63, drawn one and lost one.

Dungarvan lost Patrick and John Curran to injury while Darragh Lyons was also unavailable. Michael Kiely took the fight to the Gunners and finished with 2-6.

Abbeyside sealed their last eight spot with an emphatic eleven point victory over Fourmilewater (0-23 to 0-12).

Michael O'Halloran sent over eleven frees as Benji Whelan's side made it back to back championship wins. Charlie Treen (0-5), Michael Kiely (0-3) and Rian Walsh (0-3) also caught the eye up front. Fourmilewater looked rusty in their first championship outing. They finished with twelve wides.

Two goals from Shane Mackey blasted Roanmore to their first win of the championship against Clonea at Walsh Park on Friday night (2-20 to 0-21).

Former county man Gavin O'Brien delivered eleven points (ten frees) for the Sky Blues and created four others. Sean Burke shot three from play. Jason Gleeson (0-8), Billy Power (0-7) and Kieran Power (0-3) led the Clonea charge.

Micheál Harney and Ciarán Kirwan were listed among the subs but couldn't tog out for the boys in green. Their applications to assist Clonea in hurling for 2024, while representing Bonmahon (Harney) and Kill (Kirwan) on the football field, have been rejected by the Waterford competitions control committee and the Waterford hearings committee for a second time.