Waterford SHC Final – Ballygunner v Lismore

Ballygunner defeated Lismore by 1-17 to 0-19 in the Waterford Senior Hurling Championship Final on Saturday October 17th at Walsh Park Waterford.

Flynn fires Gunners to glory

Ballygunner 1-17 Lismore 0-19

Waterford SHC Final Replay

Report from the Irish Independent newspaper

AFTER coming from 10 points down to seal an unlikely draw six days earlier, Ballygunner made no mistake at the second time of asking to secure their first county senior title since 2005. Ballygunner got off to a flying start when Brian O’Sullivan struck for the game’s only goal in the 13th minute, opening up a six-point lead, 1-5 to 0-2. But Lismore rallied and by the half-time whistle they were back on level terms, 0-11 to 1-8. When Lismore’s Maurice Shanahan opened the second-half scoring with two pointed frees, his side led for the first time since the fourth minute of the first period. Further Lismore points from Dave Bennett and John Prendergast, in reply to another from Andy Moloney, then sent them into a three-point.

As always seems to be the case, however, the Gunners saved their best form ’til late. A Stephen Power point with his first touch after coming on as a sub was followed by a points from Andy Moloney and the evergreen Paul Flynn to bring the Gunners back to within a point with eight minutes left. And then came the scoring sequence that sealed the game for Ballygunner. A wonderful long-range point from Paudie Prendergast restored Lismore’s two-point advantage but then two excellent efforts from man of the match, Andy Moloney, Paudie Mahony and a nerveless free by Flynn sent the Gunners two clear. There was still time for Lismore response in the shape of a James Shanahan point but it was a case of too little too late.

Scorers — Ballygunner: P Flynn 0-8 (8f), A Moloney 0-5, B O’Sullivan 1-1, S O’Sullivan, S Power, P Mahony 0-1 each.

Lismore: M Shanahan 0-10 (9f), D Bennett 0-3, P Prendergast 0-2, D Shanahan, C O’Gorman, J Prendergast, J Shanahan 0-1 each.

Ballygunner: S O’Keeffe; T Power, A Kirwan, R O’Sullivan; P Mahony, F Hartley, W Hutchinson; C Kehoe, S Walsh; P Mahony, A Moloney, S O’Sullivan; G O’Connor, P Flynn, B O’Sullivan Subs: V Molloy for R O’Sullivan, S Power for Kehoe.

Lismore: B Landers; E Bennett, J O’Connor, S Bennett; D O’Gorman, S Kearney, P Fennessy; J Prendergast, D Howard; M Shanahan, S O’Keeffe, D Shanahan; C O’Gorman, D Bennett, P Prendergast Sub: J Shanahan for O’Keeffe.

Ref — P Casey (Cappoquin)