Ballygunner and Cois Bhride end all square in exciting County Minor Hurling Final

Ballygunner and Cois Bhride will have to do it all over again after the two sides finished all square at the end of an exciting County Minor Hurling Final at Walsh Park on Saturday afternoon.

The last few finals have all produced plenty of excitement and some excellent hurling and this one was no different.

Right to the end even though the outcome of this game was in doubt even if at three different points in the third quarter of the game the Tallow and Shamrocks combination side held an eight point advantage.

However, Ballygunner will have learned from past experiences. The players on the side will have remembered it was only two years ago that their senior hurlers were seven points up with as many minutes to play against Passage in the county final only to loose the game by three.

This time the shoe was on the other foot and they knew that with over a quarter of the game to play if they refused to throw in the towel then they had an excellent chance of getting something from the game.

Cois Bhride played with first use of the strong breeze that blew towards the Keane’s Road end of the ground and they opened the scoring on two minutes through the very impressive Darah Buckley. However the score was soon wiped out as Man of the Match in their semi final win over Passage and top scorers for them in this game Peter Hogan levelled matters for Ballygunner.

On six minutes Ballygunner who had beaten Cois Bhride in the group stages of the competition by a point stole a march on their opponents as the very impressive Alex Molloy played through Harry Ruddle beat Davy Tobin with a precision shot.

Top scorer in this game Ryan Grey pulled a point back for Cois Bhride from a free on eight minutes and two minutes later they went in front for the second time in the game as Darah Buckley found Ian Beecher who beat Darragh O’Keeffe to give his side a 1-2 to 1-1 lead.

It was Ballygunner that hit the next two scores firstly through Michael Mahony a younger brother of Waterford stars Philip and Pauric and then Peter Hogan to give them the lead once more with eleven minutes remaining in the first half.

Scoring might be low up to this point but the standard of hurling was keeping the large attendance entertained as the sliotar went from end to end.

Kelvyn O’Farrell levelled matters again with ten minutes to play, but in the time that remained in the first half it was Cois Bhride that faired slightly the better as points from Mark Mullally and Michael Mahoney were cancelled out with efforts from John Paul Lucey and a brace from Ryan Grey gave Cois Bhride a 1-7 to 1-5 lead at the break.

With just two points between the sides at the start of the second half and Ballygunner now playing with the wind at their backs, you could not but wonder did Cois Bhride have built up enough of a lead at the break to get something from this game.

There need be no worries however they started the half brightly hitting three of the first scores of the half all coming from the stick of Ryan Grey with Peter Hogan pulling one back for Ballygunner to leave his side trailing by four five minutes after the restart.

The side from the far west of the county then extended their lead to seven when the impressive Ian Beecher hit his second goal of the game on thirty six minutes and another minute on, that lead went to eight for the first time as Ryan Grey again pointed.

From here to the end of the third quarter it was a case of tit-for-tat as both sides began to trade scores through Kelvyn O’Farrell, Peter Hogan, Ryan Grey and Christopher Thomas to leave Cois Bhride leading 2-13 to 1-9 after forty five minutes.  

Up to this point what the players on both sides was serving up was an enjoyable fair but all the real excitement was confined to the last quarter of the game.

Peter Lambe hit a second Ballygunner goal on forty nine minutes but was removed from the field straight away. Peter Hogan followed up with a successfully converted free nine minutes from time and three minutes later the side were all square as the impressive Alex Molloy danced through the Cois Bhride defence and planted the sliotar past Davy Tobin.

Was this the end of the excitement? No way. There was still time to for more drama.

Ryan Grey knocked over a free for Cois Bhride to put them in front by one. Edward O’Neill followed up with another point moments after coming on and Ryan Grey put over another point to give his side a 2-16 to 3-10 lead with fifty nine minutes played. Surely that was it for Cois Bhride. Jake Neville would be leading his teammates up the steps of the stand to be presented with the winner’s trophy.

You would be wrong if you were thinking in such a way.

Peter Hogan put over another free to leave two between the sides on the hour mark and two minutes into added time the same player stood over a free on the stand side of the field and 65 metres from goal. He sent a dipping ball in around the Cois Bhride house and it deceived everyone on both sides and went all the way to the Cois Bhride net.

Ballygunner had gone from eight points down just over a quarter of an hour earlier to one point up. They must have thought it was going to be their day.

It was Cois Bhride that now had to thrown everything at the Ballygunner defence. An attempt for a score was deflected for a sixty five. Ryan Grey who stuck well all day stood over the ball and with one of the most pressurised pucks he had ever struck he made no mistake in putting the ball over the Ballygunner crossbar.

The full time whistle quickly followed. The draw was the fairest result for the players on both sides, and I am sure that the majority of the large support from both sides in the ground will not mind having to return to Waterford for another clash between these two evenly balanced sides.

Ballygunner: Darragh O’Keeffe; Cathal Ryan, David Cullinane, Darragh Hogan; Shane Hannon, Gus Flynn, Mark Mullally; Nicky Byrne, Billy O’Sullivan; Alex Molloy, Patrick Lambe, Michael Mahony; Harry Ruddle, Peter Hogan, Christopher Thomas. Subs; Michael Smyth for Cathal Ryan (44), Ollie Sharp for Christopher Thomas, Todd Loughnane for Patrick Lambe (both 49)

Scorers: Peter Hogan 1-7 (1-3f), Harry Ruddle, Patrick Lambe, Alex Molloy 1-0 each, Michael Mahony 0-2 (1f), Mark Mullally, Christopher Thomas 0-1 each.

Cois Bhride: Davy Tobin; Robbie Geary, Jake Beecher, Darragh Mulcahy; Padraig Roche, Jake Neville, Cathal Geary; Jordan Henley, John Paul Lucey; Dylan Mangan, Ryan Grey, Kelvyn O’Farrell; Ian Beecher, Eddie Hynes, Darah Buckley. Sub: Edward O’Neill for Dylan Mangan (56).

Scorers: John Paul Grey 0-12 (0-7f, 0-1 ’65), Ian Beecher 1-0, Darah Buckley, Kelvyn O’Farrell, John Paul Lucey, Kelvyn O’Farrell, Edward O’Neill 0-1 each.

Referee: Michael O’Brien (Portlaw)