Two softish Ballygunner frees just before half time to edge their lead out to 0-9 to 0-5.
Desperate match. Passage will have a bit of a breeze behind them second half, but they donāt look to have the forwards or the belief to capitalise. Ballygunner do have the demeanour of a side that are slipping. Iād be amazed if today is the day they are caught though.
Ballygunner upped it a bit second half and run out 0-22 to 0-13 winners. Not far off challenge match tempo.
To be fair all the Waterford teams do at least try to front up physically and timber into Ballygunner as best they can. Passage must have had 4x yellow cards picked up after 20 minutes and there was an incident that looked nasty enough on Pauric Mahony before half time.
In Munster too many teams are beaten before a ball is thrown in and just stand back admiring them.
The final is in Dungarvan which will be a help to Abbeyside but Ballygunner will up it another level and still win pulling up.
I think Abbeyside will ask questions of Ballygunner. Itās a pity they are missing Seanie Callaghan and Montyās fitness issues. Think they have a few fellows in Australia too, a Looby and a McGrath that would be starters if they were about. @Bugsy_Malone would be more specific with personnel there.
They have three serious bullets to fire in Prunty, Montgomery and Kiely alright but i canāt see them pulling off a shock.
Brian Looby is there this year. Sticky corner back. Might be his brother away.
Billy OāConnell is a very good hurler as well. Only 18. Think it was 0-5 he scored from play today.
Charlie Treen is a player I like. Was excellent in the quarter final I attended.
Should draw a decent crowd in fraher field.
One thing Abbeyside have compared to many other sides is they can match Ballygunnar athletically.
Why is the WSHC being played off so quickly? To allow for football?
Yes.
That model is nuts. Wexford abandoned it. No club hurling in Waterford now for 5 months or that beyond champions in Munster. Hardly gives younger fellas much chance to improve much with a view to staking a claim.
How is Dan Shanahan able to play junior b and senior for Lismore in the same season?
Or did he just play in the relegation play off for the seniors? Which I believe doesnāt affect eligibility/grading.
https://twitter.com/ourgamehq/status/1827797542005796961?s=46&t=bi9TPLB4aIa07RQv_xWOxQ
Dan just played Senior in the relegation play off against Tallow.
The whole thing is very convoluted really. Ballygunner lost to Brickey Rangers by 1 point in Premier Intermediate semi final yesterday. A few of their main guns on that team like Conor Tobin seemingly didnāt feature. Conor Tobin came on in the second half today for the seniors.
You can make two appearances without losing your status is the rule I think. Itās designed to help out smaller clubs who struggle with numbers but ballygunnar benefited from it.
In dans case, relegation doesnāt effect your status in Waterford (or Tipp or most counties).
Bricky rangers v Clashmore in the premier intermediate final should be a good game.
Correct. Or suspensions fyi
What age is Dan now? Must be 46/47? He could still play for Waterford.
47, 1st played adult hurling in 1993.
Yeh, Tom Looby, Daragh McGrath and John Elstead are away. All 3 would be massive additions and allied to the injuries to Monty and Seanie O Callaghan weāre certainly not playing with a full deck.
Happy where weāre at though. Played 4 championship games this year and won all by 10+ points.
Obviously a massive ask next weekend against one of the best teams in the country, but weāre there with a shot.
All empireās crumble eventually!
Dun Na Mainistreach abu.
That Abbeyside forward line can cause a lot of problems for a creaking and ageing Ballygunner defence. I thought Harney did well for Ballygunner yesterday coming in for the suspended Shane OāSullivan. Interesting managerial conundrum for Darragh OāSullivan now, whether to recall his near 40 year old brother.
