Last four in Waterford Senior Hurling Championship are known, Roanmore survive.

The semi final pairings in this year’s Waterford County Senior Hurling Semi Finals were confirmed over the weekend with the playing of the four quarter finals.

In the main game of the weekend, the champions of the last two years clashed at Walsh Park on Saturday evening, and it was no major surprise that both Ballygunner and De La Salle at the end of the hour the two sides could not be separated.

At the hour mark, the sides were locked at fourteen points a piece, but in the first of the two added ten minutes, it was the 2011 champions that proved to be the superior side, hitting 1-4 without replay from De La Salle.

The Ballygunner goal came two minutes from the break in extra time, and it had the large attendance at the Keane’s Road in awe.

Barry Coughlan who was part of the Waterford Senior Panel over the past year, lined out at full back for the Gunners. He made a daring run into the De la Salle side of the field with the sliotar. He lofted the ball over the head of Ian Flynn, and then assumed control of the ball before firing low past De La Salle goal keeper John Coady.

Over the 80 minutes, Pauric Mahony proved to be Ballygunner’s key player. He hit fifteen points of his side’s tally of 1-21, while for De La Salle it was another inter county player Jake Dillon that was their top tallies man hitting nine of his sides fifteen points.

The sides were locked at eight points a piece at the break in normal time. Fifteen minutes later, the sides could still not be separated, the two sides locked at eleven points each.

Ballygunner in the final quarter went thirteen points to eleven up, but De La Salle hit the next three scores and it looked as though that they would break the trend that exists between these two sides, whereby when they clash, the reigning champions interest in the competition would come to an end.

However, Ballygunner refused to throw in the towel and late in the game Pauric Mahony sent over a pressure ’65 to send the game to over time.

In the extra twenty minutes, De La Salle scored just once more as Ballygunner went on to dominate and will fancy their chances of capturing the Waterford News and Star Cup in a few weeks.

Fraher Field staged three games on Sunday afternoon.

In the first, Mount Sion proved too strong for Tallow, coming out on top on a 2-22 to 1-7 score line.

Despite Tallow having first use of the strong wind, it was Mount Sion who made the best start to this game racing into a 1-6 to no score lead with some time still remaining in the first quarter.

Stephen Roche, Austin Gleeson, and Martin O’Neill all landed early points for the Monastery Men, but their most crucial score in the opening quarter proved to be a Sean Ryan goal on four minutes after he was picked out by Martin (Fish) O’Neill.

Tallow got on their first score of the game on fourteen minutes when William Curley put the sliotar between the uprights and moments later, Thomas Ryan showed all the great speed and array of skills he has by running at the Mount Sion defence down the stand side of the field in the direction of the road goal before coming in along the end line where he spotted William Henley unmarked in front of the Mount Sion goal and with a brilliant pass he picked him out and Henley made no mistake in blasting past Ian O’Regan in the Mount Sion goal.

Mount Sion however, proved to be the better of the two sides for the remainder of the half as Stephen Roche, his brother Richie and the impressive Austin Gleeson all landed points with Tallow responding twice with points from Paul Kearney which had them trailing 1-10 to 1-3 at the break.

In the second half, Mount Sion continued to dominate. Points from a long range Ian O’Regan, Stephen Roche who finished the game with eight points, Austin Gleeson who finished with nine points and Michael Gaffney gave Mount Sion a 1-16 to 1-6 lead, and once Martin O’Neill finished to the net for a second Mount Sion goal on forty eight to kill off any hopes that Tallow had of staging a late come back, even if they would have had to do it playing against a very strong wind.

The second of the three games played at Fraher Field on Sunday proved to be a game of two halves.

In the first half Ballyduff Upper playing with the aid of the strong wind at their backs raced into a 0-12 to 1-4 at the break, with county minor star Mikey Kearney playing a pivotal role for the men from the Far West of the county.

Passage in the first half greatly disappointed and with seventeen minutes played they trailed 0-8 to 0-1.

However, games can turn with a controversial decision made by the officials and this game was no different.

Leading 0-12 to 0-3 with three minutes of the first half remaining, from the press box it appeared that Ballyduff Upper won a side line ball. The lines man on the stand side of the field agreed with most that were present in that area of the ground, but referee Michael Wadding indicated that the ball was put out over the line by one of the Ballyduff men and insisted that the linesman should flag in the opposite direction.

From the restart, Passage attacked the Ballyduff goal and Owen Connors was in the right place at the right time to hit the games only goal. Eoin Kelly landed a point soon afterwards which sent his side to the dressing rooms trailing 0-12 to 1-4 but with the wind at their backs in the second half, the Passage men were still in with a great shout.

Passage in the second half proved to be the better of the two sides. Ballyduff added just one point in the third quarter while Passage had gone from five points down at the break to ending the third quarter one point in front.

Ballyduff soon went back in front courtesy of points from Mikey Kearney and Kevin Casey, but Passage were to end the game the stronger of the two sides, as Owen Connors with a brace, Stephen Mason, Mitchell Baldwin, Liam Flynn, Conor Carey, Killian Fitzgerald and John Whitty in the final quarter of the game landed points which gave their side a 1-19 to 0-17 victory.

While, it could be argued that the overall standard of play in each of the four games played over the weekend might not be as what you would expect, the final game of the weekend proved to be the most disappointing.

Fourmilewater won the toss and opted to play against the strong wind in the first half, and it looked to be a good call from them as Seamus Lawlor hit a brace of scores in the first three minutes of the game.

Abbeyside hit their first score of the on seven minutes, and it soon had Abbeyside in their rhythm.

The Village Men soon levelled matters through Gavin Breen and after Gary Hurney set up younger brother Patrick for the games first goal on twelve minutes, the signs were not beginning to look good for a Fourmilewater side beaten in last years semi finals and who were expected to make further improvements this year.

Further points from Mark Gorman and Gary Hurney hit further points for Abbeyside which was followed by a David Collins goal directly from a side line cut which gave them a 2-6 to 0-2 lead with seven minutes of the first half remaining.

Patrick Hurney and Mark Gorman went on to add further points which gave Abbeyside a 2-9 to 0-2 lead with the sides heading to the dressing rooms.

Normally, with the strength of the wind that blew at Fraher Field on Sunday, a team that went in trailing at the break having played against the wind would still be in with a shout of winning, but Fourmilewater had left themselves with too much to do, and their cause was not helped seconds after the restart when Patrick Hurney struck his second goal of the game.

Mark Gorman landed a point soon afterwards, but Fourmilewater hit back with points from Thomas O’Gorman and Jamie Barron.

However, their cause was not helped before the end of the third quarter when they lost Shane Walsh and Shane Lawlor with injuries.

Mark Gorman put over three further points before Jamie Barron pulled one back, but points from Patrick Hurney and Mark Ferncombe in the final minutes of the game helped Abbeyside to a very comfortable 3-16 to 0-6 victory.

After the game, the draws were made for the semi finals. Ballygunner after beating the reigning champions have another difficult task in the semi finals as they are pitted with Abbeyside who are coming into a rich veal of form in recent weeks while Mount Sion will play Passage.

Both games will take place at Walsh Park on September 29. Mount Sion and Passage meet in the first game of a double header, the game having a 2pm start and will be followed ninety minutes later with the clash of Ballygunner and Abbeyside. With at least one team from the Eastern end of the county involved in the county final, it is expected that this years final will be played at the Keane’s Road venue in mid October.

Meanwhile elsewhere in the county, Roanmore retained their senior status for another year after they proved too strong for An Rinn in the relegation play off at Kill. At the break the city side lead 2-6 to 1-6, and in the second half continued to be the better of the sides winning 3-15 to 3-9.

In the Eastern Intermediate semi finals, Portlaw proved too strong for De La Salle’s second string team, winning 2-15 to 3-8 while Dunhill who came down from the intermediate ranks at the end of 2012 beat Clonea 3-10 to 1-13.

In the west of the county, Clashmore and Ardmore advanced to the semi finals of this years Intermediate Championship. Clashmore proved too strong fro Stradbally at Fraher Field on Saturday evening winning 1-17 to 1-11 and in the curtain raiser Ardmore had a 2-15 to 0-12 win over Shamrocks. In the semi final draw, Brickeys were drawn against Ardmore while Cappoquin will play Clashmore.

In the western Junior Hurling semi finals, Colligan had a 1-19 to 2-14 win after extra time in replay. The sides ended 2-11 to 1-14 after sixty minutes, but in the extra twenty minutes, the Rockies proved that little bit too strong for last years beaten County Finalists. The game at Fraher Field had a 8-30pm throw in on Friday evening, and with the game going to extra time, it had many people wondering was it the latest finish ever for a game in Waterford and even possibly nationally. Colligan however will have to wait a little longer to see who they will play in the final as the second semi final between Modeligo and Ballysaggart ended in a draw. The full time score in Lismore was Ballysaggart 1-15 Modeligo 3-9.

In the Western Attached championships, Lismore proved too strong for Tallow in the ‘Senior Competition’, the men from the Cathedral town winning 3-12 to 1-14, and in the ‘Intermediate’ competition, Brickeys had a comfortable 3-21 to 1-3 win over Ballysaggart.