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2021 / 2022 AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Club Semi-Final – Ballygunner (Waterford) 2-19 Slaughtneil (Derry) 1-17

January 23, 2022 @ 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm

Ballygunner (Waterford) defeated Slaughtneil (Derry) by 2-19 to 1-17 in the 2021 / 2022 AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Semi-Final on Sunday January 23rd at Parnell Park Dublin.

Interview with Ballygunner manager Darragh O’Sullivan

Billy O’Keeffe inspires Ballygunner past spirited Slaughtneil challenge

Report by John Fogarty for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Ballygunner 2-19 Slaughtneil 1-17

Bruised and bloodied but beaming afterwards, Ballygunner passed the test that is Slaughtneil and will be thankful for this intense examination.

Eight points up early in the final quarter, everything appeared to be going swimmingly for Ballygunner, who were hoping to win an All-Ireland semi-final at the third time of asking. Then the Derry side hit them for four points without reply.

Backed by buoyant support in Parnell Park, the initiative had been seized by Slaughtneil until Billy O’Keeffe provided a breather of a point. Cormac O’Doherty cancelled that out with a free but O’Keeffe hit back with a free having taken over duties from Pauric Mahony.

Dessie Hutchinson sent over a quick brace of points to seemingly secure the win for Ballygunner when Shane McGuigan, known more for his attacking pursuits with the club and county’s footballers but assigned the role of tagging Pauric Mahony, found the net in the second minute of additional time.

The margin was cut to four points but as they so often did in the second half, Ballygunner made the most of their restart and Kevin Mahony ended the contest with his fourth point of the game.

Ballygunner knew they had been in the trenches. Pauric Mahony, whose tussle with McGuigan, wore the wounds of it afterwards. They also had to resort to some despairing tackling towards the end to deny Slaughtneil further attempts at goal while Stephen O’Keeffe also had to be sharp to stop Meehaul McGrath.

But if the Munster final against Kilmallock lacked the characteristics of a battle, this should serve them suitably for what lies ahead. They never lost the lead they gained in the first minute but Slaughtneil never let go of their collars.

Two points up after three minutes, O’Keeffe opened his goal account in the fourth minute when he made the most of Peter Hogan’s run and his shot was low enough to beat Oisín O’Doherty.

Two minutes later, Hutchinson almost finished off a slick Ballygunner move but Slaughtneil made the most of the let-off to score the next three points to settle their nerves, Brendan Rodgers an impressive figure spearheading the Ulster champions’ attack. Ballygunner’s advantage was three at the first water break, 1-5 to 0-5, but they returned just three points in the second quarter as their shooting let them down. Some of the ball heading the way of Hutchinson and O’Keeffe inside was poor too with sweeper Gerald Bradley lapping it up.

Deservingly, Slaughtneil closed the gap to a point in the 27th minute when Sé McGuigan split the posts after Cormac O’Doherty had provided his first from play. However, Hutchinson finished out the half with a typical piece of class to make it 1-8 to 0-9 in his team’s favour.

Ballygunner manager Darragh O’Sullivan wasn’t concerned but knew his team’s decision-making was off. “I think we had six or seven wides at that stage and weren’t at where we should have been but then again we were under pressure and they forced us into taking shots when we maybe could have been more composed.”

As he did at the outset of the first half, O’Keeffe poached a goal, on this occasion delivering the execution after the beavering Kevin Mahony had advanced towards goal.

“Kevin hand-passed it to Billy when some people might have said he should have shot, the man was in the better position and that’s what you love to see,” said O’Sullivan.

Sustained by their ability to follow their puck-outs with points, Ballygunner’s cushion was seven points at the second water break, 2-13 to 0-12. It would have been double digits but for Pauric Mahony inexplicably sending three consecutive frees wide just before the referee allowed for refreshments.

O’Keeffe did put eight between the sides in the 48th minute but what followed was a Slaughtneil revival led by Rodgers who was thriving having moved further out the field. He scored two of the four points in five minutes, which must have struck fear in Ballygunner hearts that this was going to be Clarinbridge 2002 and Ballyhale Shamrocks 2019 all over again. However, O’Keeffe kept his head to guide them to safety.

Reviewing the game, Slaughtneil manager Michael McShane rued the goals his team conceded at the start of each half.

“It’s very obvious, we lost the game in the first five minutes of each half. We went 1-2 down before we struck a ball in the first half, then conceded 1-1 at the start of the second half.

“It’s inexplicable… I don’t know. I’m not going to point fingers at anybody, but they were out of the blocks very quick and that 2-3 was the difference in the end. So bitterly disappointed. We’ve given it everything that we could do over the last ten weeks of training and very proud to have won another Derry and Ulster title.

“But this is where we wanted to be and we wanted to win today. We’ve had enough of glorious performances that ended in defeat and this is another one. We’re just very very down.”

Interview with Man of the Match Billy O’Keeffe

Scorers for Ballygunner: B. O’Keeffe (2-3, 0-1 free); D. Hutchinson, K. Mahony (0-4 each); P. Hogan (0-3); C. Sheahan, Pauric Mahony (frees) (0-2 each); M. Mahony (0-1).

Scorers for Slaughtneil: C. O’Doherty (0-7, 6 frees); B. Rodgers (0-4); B. Cassidy (0-3); Shane McGuigan (1-0); J. McGuigan (0-2); Sé McGuigan (0-1).

BALLYGUNNER: S. O’Keeffe; I. Kenny, B. Coughlan (j-c), T. Foley; S. O’Sullivan, Philip Mahony (j-c), R. Power; C. Sheahan, P. Leavey; M. Mahony, Pauric Mahony, P. Hogan; D. Hutchinson, K. Mahony, B. O’Keeffe.

SLAUGHTNEIL: O. O’Doherty; K. McKaigue, S. Cassidy, P. McNeill; G. Bradley; M McGrath, S. McGuigan, C. McAllister; C. O’Doherty (c), C. McKaigue; Sé McGuigan, J. McGuigan, M. McGuigan, B. Rodgers, B. Cassidy.
Subs: P. Kearney for S. Cassidy (51); J. Cassidy for M. McGuigan (53).

Referee: S. Stack (Dublin)

Match Coverage

This game will be shown live on TG4.

Details

Date:
January 23, 2022
Time:
1:30 pm - 3:30 pm

Venue

Parnell Park Dublin

GAA Units

Clare GAA
Cork GAA
Kerry GAA
Limerick GAA
Tipperary GAA
Waterford GAA
US GAA