2015 has been a year of shocks when it comes
to the senior hurling Championship in Waterford.
Have a look at the last number of finals in
Waterford and maybe you can see some of the shocks, or was it just a case of
the way the draws happened, as a number of the sides that have appeared in the
last number of finals went out of the competition earlier than most expected.
Mount Sion, beaten in last years final
against Ballygunner went out of this year’s championship at the quarter final
stages this year to Ballygunner, so maybe that was not entirely a shock.
Passage the winners in 2013 went out of the
competition at the same stage as Mount Sion this year against 2007 champions
Ballyduff Upper, a side that most had confined to a relegation play off against
possibly Cappoquin or Lismore after three games in the league section of the
competition.
De La Salle, the winners in 2008, 2010 and
2012 failed to reach the knockout stages of the competition this year. In fact
they had to withstand a relegation play off game with Lismore to ensure they
would get the right to contest for the Waterford News and Star Cup in 2016.
Dungarvan the runners up in 2012 were fancied
by many this year to have a good run and were looking good for a semi final
spot a few weeks back but they were powerless to stop Tallow hit some late
scores and so bow out of the competition this year at the same stage as Mount
Sion and Passage.
And Lismore who lost out to Ballygunner after
a replay by a point in the 2009 final lost their senior status for 2016 when
they lost the relegation play off some weeks back to De La Salle.
At the start of the year when I was filling
out my Sports Prediction Form competition run by the Sliabh gCua/Saint Mary’s
G.A.A. Club I had a feeling that 2015 could be a year where there would be
change. Something was telling me that someone out side of Ballygunner and De La
Salle that most were favouring to win this year’s Waterford News and Star Cup.
Having made some good additions to their team since they last appeared in the
final, I opted for Dungarvan to be the team that would break the dominance of
the Eastern Clubs in the competition in the last twenty years where there was
only won winner west of the River Mahon and you could not have gone any further
west to find that winner.
In the last number of years in the
All-Ireland Hurling championship most agree that the last team to beat Kilkenny
will win the All-Ireland (few do). I therefore guess that since Dungarvan went out
of the competition I have to in a way switch my prediction to the side that
beat them and that was Tallow.
As pointed out it has been a year of shock
results this year and something tells me that there may be one more to come.
Ballygunner will go into this Sunday’s game
with the favourites tag around their necks, but they have not been playing to
the best of their capabilities this year, so it could be argued that this will
give Tallow confidence travelling to Walsh Park on Sunday.
The two sides played at the same venue in the
2011 final and on that day Ballygunner ran out comfortable 1-19 to 0-6 winners.
Tallow this year know that they can only really improve on that result, unless
of course that the reigning champions are saving their best till the last game
of the championship and they put in an exhibition of hurling over the course of
the hour.
Tallow will travel this year with a better
side they had in 2011.
They could well be able to call upon eleven
of the side which were beaten that day from the off this Sunday, and also are
able to call upon exciting prospects like Ryan Grey and Jordan Henley both of
whom have made big impressions in this years campaign.
Ballygunner for their part will be without a
number of players that helped them win the title twelve months ago at the same
venue against Mount Sion.
Pauric Mahony of course is the biggest loss
to the side. He has not played since he picked up a serious injury against
Ballyduff Upper in the opening round game back in May. Wayne Hutchinson is
another loss this year after work took him away from the area and he decided to
throw his lot in closer to his place of employment.
However, the Gunners will be able to call on
some experienced players and like Tallow they will be able to call upon many of
the side which helped beat the Bride-siders four years ago in the final, with
in the region of a dozen of the twenty players used that day expected to start
on Sunday.
And like Tallow they are able to call on some
exciting youngsters who were not involved in 2011 for this game with possibly
Peter Hogan being the best of them. Last weekend he hit 1-7 for the Ballygunner
minor team which drew with Cois Bhride (Tallow and Shamrocks) at the same
venue.
Both sides go into this weekend’s game having
played seven games each.
Ballygunner’s record is the better of the
two, winning six of their seven games, while Tallow won four of their games,
drew one and lost two, one of which was the last game in the league section of
the championship, a table topper against this weekends opponents Ballygunner.
If I to put money on this weekend’s game like
many I would possibly opt for Ballygunner to put my bet on as they will in the
eyes of the bookies return the best value of getting it back and getting some
more with it.
However in this year of shocks so far, I’m
not going to write off Tallow’s chances all to easy and if they were to win a fifth
Championship, following on from their previous wins in 1936, 1980, 1984 and
1985.
Paths
to the Final:
Ballygunner:
Round
1: Ballygunner
2-18 Ballyduff Upper 0-9
Round
2: Ballygunner
1-14 Fourmilewater 1-7
Round
3: Ballygunner
0-17 De La Salle 1-12
Round
4: Ballygunner
2-21 Abbeyside 0-16
Round
5: Ballygunner
0-20 Tallow 0-16
Quarter
Final:
Ballygunner 2-12 Mount Sion 0-12
Semi
Final:
Ballygunner 1-16 Fourmilewater 1-12
Scores
for:
9-113
Scores
against:
2-89
Average
for:
20 points
Average
against:
14 points
Tallow:
Round
1: Tallow
1-15 De La Salle 2-12
Round
2: Tallow
2-15 Ballyduff Upper 1-13
Round
3: Tallow
2-13 Abbeyside 1-11
Round
4: Tallow
0-15 Fourmilewater 1-13
Round
5: Tallow
0-16 Ballygunner 0-20
Quarter
Final:
Tallow 3-13 Dungarvan 0-18
Semi
Final:
Tallow 1-14 Ballyduff Upper 0-16
Scores
for:
11-102
Scores
against:
5-113
Average
for:
21 points
Average
against: 18
points
Top
Scorers for both sides:
Ballygunner:
Brian O’Sullivan 2-29
Stephen Power 3-20
Peter Hogan 2-6
JJ Hutchinson 1-8
Barry O’Sullivan 0-10
Pauric Mahony 0-9
Billy O’Keeffe 1-4
David O’Sullivan 0-7
Shane O’Sullivan 0-7
Conor Power 0-4
Stephen O’Keeffe 0-4
Tim O’Sullivan 0-2
Philip Mahony 0-1
Gary Molloy 0-1
David Walsh 0-1
Tallow:
Thomas Ryan 3-42
Ryan Grey 2-19
Paul O’Brien 1-14
Evan Sheehan 2-4
William Henley 1-5
Paul Kearney 0-6
Robert O’Sullivan 0-4
Jordan Henley 0-2
Aidan Kearney 0-2
Brian McCarthy 0-1
Bob McCarthy 0-1
Kieran Geary 0-1
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.