Ballygunner 2-28
Abbeyside-Ballinacourty 2-10
Ballygunner secured an 11th successive Waterford Senior Hurling title with one of the most dominant performances they've produced in the course of a 58-match unbeaten run which shows no signs of abating.
With 10 different scorers, featuring 11 points from the outstanding Pauric Mahony and goals from Dessie Hutchinson and Patrick Fitzgerald, Ballygunner blitzed Abbeyside which had only conceded 2-59 in their run to the final.
Playing with a strong wind advantage in the opening half, Ballygunner overwhelmed their heavily supported challengers to lead by 1-15 to 0-05 at the break.
After a hectic opening minute full of physical exchanges, Gunners wing-back Ronan Power opened the scoring with a fine strike from just inside his own half.
Abbeyside promptly responded through a Michael O’Halloran free only for Dessie Hutchinson to immediately cancel out that response with a stunning point from wide on the left.
Kevin and Pauric Mahony (2), who linked up brilliantly during several first half attacks, pointed in the seventh, eighth and ninth minutes respectively. And when the dominant Conor Sheahan opened his account from the middle of the park after 11 minutes, the champions led by 0-06 and 0-01 and one feared the worst for Abbeyside.
But to the challengers’ credit, they rallied well to register three of the next four points through Michael O’Halloran (two frees) and towering full-forward Michael Kiely, who kept Barry Coughlin busy on those occasions the ball fell his way.
Alas, that five minute purple patch was as good as it got for Abbeyside, with Ballygunner 'winning’ the remaining 13 minutes of first half regulation time by 1-08 to 0-01.
Seven minutes from the break, Hutchinson found the net having cut inside Seán Whelan Barrett before slamming the ball low and true beyond Lar Power.
All three Mahony brothers added points as the Gunners made an early dash to the finish line, with goalkeeper Stephen O’Keeffe landing a point between the Abbeyside posts from inside his own 21-metre line. Charlie Treen, superbly marshalled by Ian Kenny all afternoon, somewhat stemmed the flow with a stoppage time point for Abbeyside. Yet the champions tacked on another brace of points before the half-time whistle thanks to Peter Hogan and man of the match Pauric Mahony.
Upon the resumption, Abbeyside did their best to establish some kind of footing in the contest, with Michael O’Halloran (2) and Maurice Power finding their range in response to Patrick Fitzgerald’s point. But Fitzgerald’s 36th minute goal killed whatever wind was left in Abbeyside’s sails, just moments after Lar Power had brilliantly denied Dessie Hutchinson a green flagger.
Abbeyside’s next attack yielded a goal from an unlikely source – a Stephen O’Keeffe misread – as Willie Beresford’s high ball skipped away from the Gunners netminder, with Michael Kiely on hand to scoop home.
Conor Prunty bounded forward to brilliantly point for the challengers in the 39th minute to reduce the arrears to 10 points, but by then Abbeyside were firmly in damage limitation mode.
Over the closing 20 minutes, Pauric Mahony was dominant, with his crisp passing, laser-guided free taking and classy scoring from play making this another day to remember for the Gunners’ joint captain.
Five minutes from time, Michael Kiely drilled a 21-metre free into the net off Stephen O’Keeffe’s stick for his second goal of an otherwise forgettable afternoon for Abbeyside.
Fittingly, in front of a 4,012-strong gate, Pauric Mahony landed the match’s final two scores following one of the finest performances of his distinguished club career. Ballygunner’s sights have already turned to the Munster Championship and if dry, fast pitches remain the letter of the day, it’s going to take one hell of a performance to derail them.
Ballygunner: Stephen O’Keeffe (0-01); Ian Kenny, Barry Coughlin, Tadhg Foley; Shane O’Sullivan, Philip Mahony, Ronan Power (0-01); Conor Sheahan (0-04), Paddy Leavey; Dessie Hutchinson (1-04), Pauric Mahony (0-11, 0-06f) Peter Hogan (0-01); Cormac Power (1-01), Kevin Mahony (0-03), Mikey Mahony (0-01).
Subs: Cormac Power for Patrick Fitzgerald (49), Harry Ruddle (0-1) for Mikey Mahony (52), Sean Harney for Shane O’Sullivan (53), Billy O’Keeffe for Kevin Mahony (55), Conor Tobin for Peter Hogan (57).
Abbeyside: Lar Power; Seán Whelan Barrett, Conor Prunty (0-01), Brian Looby; James Beresford, David Collins, Evan McInerney; Maurice Power (0-01), Willie Beresford; Michael O'Halloran (0-05; 0-04f, 0-01 65), Rian Walsh, Billy O'Connell; Charlie Treen (0-02), Michael Kiely (2-01; 1-00 pen), Eoin Kiely.
Subs: Neil Montgomery for Eoin Kiely (26), Colin Foley for Evan McInerney (39), Mark Twomey for Maurice Power (48), Eoin Ahern for Rian Walsh (52), Brian Callaghan for Michael O’Halloran (56).
Referee: Thomas Walsh (Modeligo)
