They are. They can hurl but they can mix it when they have to.
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Na Piarsaign will beat them by four or five points.
Rahoon Newcastle won the glamour tie of the weekend, with a last minute free from over 75metres.
Clutch.
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What stage is that at? Iāve a friend who joined them this year.
Final (junior c)
They are 3-4 quality players ahead of ballygunner.
It would be a monumental surprise for me were NaP to lose
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Who would those 3-4 players be?
There wasnāt a whole pile in it two years ago when Ballygunner were missing Mahonys x2 and Wayne Hutchinson. NAP got a late goal to seal it.
Dowling for all his faults is a serious winter hurler and will be a big loss.
Ballygunner have put everything into it this year and may be the hungrier team.
Ballygunner by 1.
If you were to look at both teams I cannot fathom how NAP would be overwhelming favourites really.
Me neither. NAP are a serious team no doubt but Ballygunner with Soky orchestrating things at the back, Barry Coughlan minding the house, Philip Mahony setting up attacks and Pauric Mahony doi g the scoring have as good a spine as any club team in the last 10 years.
People might not know a lot about the likes of Ian Kenny, Harley Barnes or Conor Power but they are all serious club hurlers who are well experienced at this level. Kenny would start on most intercounty teams.
The age profile of this Ballygunner team is more or less at itās peak with nearly all of them aged between 23-27. Theyāve been building for this for the last 5 or 6 years and I expect this game will be a one score game with Extra Time a strong possibility.
AFAIK Ian Kenny was with the county panel this year, Shane Sullivan and Wayne Hutchinson were with the county for years and are still only 31, Brian and David Sullivan had a few years on county team under Davy also and would probably still be there only both are based in Dublin, Billy O Keeffe and Peter Hogan have AI u21 medals, add in SOK, Coughlan, Mahony x2. Harley Barnes and Shane Walsh are serious club hurlers.
Thurles Sars were everybodyās favourites too until they were beaten last week.
Itāll come down to the wire in two weeks.
Its a general comment.
The sum total of abilities, thats my etimation of the difference between the sides
You gotta remember NaP were a team on the cusp who many called bottlers/townies etc. They drive in after a few of those wins
I know Kenny was involved this year but he has been criminally underused by Derek. I know Fives and Connors are excellent but Kenny has been entitled to a few league games at least.
I wonder has his schooling in Glenstal rather than De La Salle come against him?
Ballygunner will win this outright on St Patrickās Day.
And Waterford will be relegated from the league
Might not be a bad thing. Division 1B is where itās at.
I think Ballygunner are a serious team. Themselves, NaP and Thurles Sars are three behemoths within their own counties; overloaded with county & former county players and just have a depth of quality that other clubs canāt really rival. Sixmilebridge arenāt quite at that level but are still a serious powerhouse in terms of playing numbers.
Obviously the Mahonys & Hutchinson were massive losses 2 years ago and Iām sure it would have been closer than 7 points if they had been playing, maybe Ballygunner might even have sneaked it.
But NaP were missing Downes & David Breen, two huge players too.
I think NaP are probably better than 2 years ago, in terms of balance all over the pitch. Peter Casey is definitely better than he was then, heās just electric, I think heās better than any forward Ballygunner have. They also have the two Boylans starting now, big additions in their respective positions as well as David Breen & Downes back. Tommy Grimes is another one, fresh from winning an All-Ireland U-21, a great fella to have at wing-back.
Dowling will be a loss if heās still out, a huge loss. Heās arguably their best player; Iād probably have Casey over him but heās still very important.
I donāt think the conditions will help Ballygunner though. Some nice ball went into the likes of Power, Hogan & OāKeeffe today which they didnāt take advantage of just because of the conditions. Na Piarsaigh have serious power right through their ranks and should be well able to dog it out too.
Iād say Na Piarsaigh by 3.
Itāll be a cracker between two of the heavyweights of club hurling who both fully expected to be here at the start of the year.
Pauric Mahony is a better player than Peter Casey BTW.
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Any results from Galway?