De La Salle and Ballygunner to advance to County Senior Hurling Final, but not without a fight.

The JJ Kavanagh and Sons County Senior Hurling Championship began last May with twelve teams taking part, the majority of whom had a realistic chance of lifting the Waterford News and Start Cup at the end of the campaign.

At about 7-30pm on Sunday evening, barring the need for a replay, we should know the last two teams left in this years championship.

There can be little disputing that the best four teams in this years championship have reached the penultimate round of games, and which ever two come out of this weekends games as winners and go on to win the title in a few weeks time can truly called themselves deserved winners.

The first game of the weekend sees city sides Mount Sion and De La Salle do battle at Walsh Park on Saturday evening, with the game having a 5-30pm throw in.

De La Salle with some while are favourites to win this years championship, as they look to continue a recent trend of winning the title on an even number year (2008, 2010 and 2012).

They have had some knocks this year. Stephen Daniels has not returned to full fitness yet after a long lay off with an injury picked up with the Waterford senior hurling team in a challenge game in 2013, while this year they have also lost Eoin Madigan and Eddie Barrett  with injuries.

For any team to loose players of these calibre is a blow, but the Gracedieu based outfit are lucky in the fact that some years ago, headed up by the likes of Seamus Quirke they had an excellent underage set up and may of the players that brought so much underage success to the club have now broken into the side with some time or in the case of some in more recent times, and have settled in taking the places of the injured three-o.

They a number of players who have seen it all, done the work and worn the t-shirt or should that be Jersey in the likes of John Mullane, Ian Flynn, Bryan ‘Bull’ Phelan, Dean Twomey, Paudie Nevin, John Keane etc. and also some very good up and coming players in the likes of Jake Dillon, Shane McNulty, Adam Farrell, Shane Ryan etc. who will be vital to the clubs cause in this game.

Mount Sion have not win the Waterford News and Star Cup since the middle of the last decade which is the longest the club has gone without winning the biggest honour in the game within the county.

However, they have been there or there about in the last few years reaching the semi finals, and it is only a matter of time before they are back in the final and challenging for top honours.

They have within their ranks some excellent players. Eoin McGrath has proven to be very solid all year and he will have to be at his very best again this weekend if Mount Sion are to advance.

Last weekend they had Ian O’Regan back between the posts. He is one of the finest keepers around, who over the years is very unlucky not to have played more for the county, but his opportunities have been curtailed because of the standard of goalkeepers competing against him for the number one shirt.

Others that Mount Sion will be looking to in this game will be Owen Whelan, Martin O’Neill, Martin ‘F’ O’Neill, Ian Galgey, Stephen and Richie Roche, Michael Gaffney and Christy Ryan as well as the ever youthful Tony Browne and the rising star of the game within Waterford – Austin Gleeson.

Previewing Mount Sion’s game with Abbeyside last weekend, I felt Tony Browne and Austin Gleeson would have to be started in the half back line for Mount Sion and if they did, they stood a good chance of beating an Abbeyside side that were fancied by many. Austin Gleeson did start in the half back line, but they may have to move the former under 21 winning captain back to the half back line this weekend, if they are to win as they will have to work very hard to stop what could well prove to be a dangerous De La Salle forward line.

This game could well prove to be a close battle and both sides will have to be at their best to win.

It remains to be seen if Ian O’Regan will start for Mount Sion as he struggles with an injury that kept him out of  number of games this year.

If he starts and the Monastery men start with Tony Browne and Austin Gleeson in defence, then they have a very good chance of going further in the championship than they have in recent years.

De La Salle will go into the game favourites and should win, but they will have to be at their very best.

The second game this weekend sees Dungarvan and Ballygunner clash at Fraher Field on Sunday evening, the game having a 6-15pm throw in.

This will be the second meeting of the two sides in this year’s championship. They met back in the first round of the round robin system and on that occasion, Ballygunner came out on top winning by six points on a 2-21 to 2-15 score line.

Highlighting this will be music to the ears of some Dungarvan fans who are regular readers of this column as they will know that I have a belief that the side that looses the first meeting of two sides have some sort of advantage going into the second game.

Ballygunner have come through this years championship with a 100% win record while Dungarvan’s only loss has come against Ballygunner.

While Ballygunner have come this far unbeaten and are the favourites to lift the Waterford News and Star Cup in the eyes of many fans, the truth is that they have not looked all that impressive this year up to now. Maybe this might be harsh to say, but the fact that Ballygunner are unbeaten while not impressing might say something about the standard of opposition that is offered to them within the county.

In their last game against Lismore who were fancied by few to come through the game, they again failed to impress in the opening half and it was only after having their numbers cut to 14 early in the second half that they began to impress.

However, the team that impresses does not always win. If this was the case, Waterford would have won more than they did between 2002 and 2007 when the county played the most impressive hurling in the Munster and All-Ireland Championships.

Dungarvan two years ago reached the county final with what was a very young team. The average age of the team was just over 21. Many believed that they reached a final a year or two ahead of what most would have predicted.

They are now one step away from reaching another final and the average age of the team is not much older than it was two years ago as the likes of Patrick Curran, Darragh Lyons and Michael Kiely who joined the club this year from Saint Mary’s join a team whose oldest regular is Jamie Nagle who is in the latter years of his mid twenties.

Patrick Curran gets a lot of the headlines when it comes to Dungarvan, but they are by no means a one man team. Jamie Nagle is impressive at centre back where he steadies the ship. Gavin Crotty has senior inter county experience as does Ryan Donnelly.

Darren Duggan, Kevin Daly, Kenny Moore, Cormac Curran, Cathal Curran, Shane Kearney, Colm Curran, Arron Donnelly etc. are all excellent players on their day and could well play a huge roll in this game for the Old Boro.

Ballygunner are favourites for this years championship according to many and for a reason.

They have some excellent players that have come through from very good minor and under 21 teams in recent years as well as players that may have just missed out on some of the successes of these teams.

Pauric Mahony is the player that makes most head lines with ‘The Gunners’ as time and time again he finishes as the sides top scorer.

However, like Dungarvan they do not rely on just one player for scores. At different times this year the six starting forwards which has often included Barry O’Sullivan, Pauric Mahony, JJ Hutchinson, Conor Power, Brian O’Sullivan and David Walsh have all got on the score sheet on the same day.

In the middle of the field Harley Barnes is very important to Ballygunner while behind him the two Stephen O’Keeffe’s, Alan Kirwan, Shane Walsh, Barry Coughlan and Wayne Hutchinson are very important and they could well have Philip Mahony back in contention for a place in the team this weekend after a spell on the side lines due to an injury picked up earlier this year.

Both sides have some considerable fire power and this could mean that the game of the championship could well be fought out between these two on Sunday evening.

The forward units of both sides all know where the posts are, meaning the side who puts out the strongest defence and the side that show the greater discipline meaning that they will not be allowing their opponents to shoot at the uprights from frees could well come out on top.

Ballygunner look to have the stronger defence, especially if they are able to call on Philip Mahony for this game, which suggests that they will advance to October’s final, but nobody should right off the chances of Dungarvan to easily.