Senior Hurling Championship Down To Last Four

The JJ Kavanagh & Sons Waterford Senior Hurling Championship is down to the last four after this weekend’s quarter final clashes all found results without going to extra time or a replay.

Defending champions Ballygunner became the first team to reach the last four when they easily accounted for city rivals Mount Sion at Walsh Park on Saturday afternoon.

The reigning champions had 20 points to spare at the end of the hour and were in control throughout the game going in at the break 0-16 to 0-7 in front.

For the winners Pauric Mahony as always was impressive in front of goal hitting a dozen of his 29 points, with Brian O’Sullivan hitting 7.

With The Gunners in this form, many will be asking who if anyone will stop them in Waterford this year, as they look for a fourth title in a row, but deep down they will be looking to win honours at at higher stage before the end of the year.

Mount Sion lead briefly at the start of this game when Martin F. O’Neill pointed a free inside the opening two minutes of this game, but they found scoring hard to achieve in this game, hitting just two points in the whole of the second half, while Ballygunner would hit a baker’s dozen to their first half tally in the second half.

Last years Intermediate Champions Lismore are also through to the last four after they accounted for Abbeyside in a thrilling game at Fraher Field on Saturday evening, a game that went right to the wire.

Lismore at the break looked to be in control as they lead 3-10 to 2-5, with Dan Shanahan hitting a brace of goals for the Cathedral Town side and Jordan Shanahan hit one, while the Village side had green flags waved from efforts by Mark Ferncombe and Tom Looby.

Maurice Shanahan helped his side to a 3-14 to 2-8 lead in the third quarter of this game, the towering Inter County player finishing with eight points behind his name on the score sheet, but he was upstaged on the night when it came to scoring as Mark Ferncombe hit 3-7 for the Village side who looked as if their hard work was going to earn them extra time on the night with time ticking down, but a Stevie Barry effort deep in stoppage time gave Lismore a 3-17 to 4-13 victory and a place in the hat for the semi final draw.

De La Salle booked their semi final spot today (Sunday) when they accounted for Fourmilewater on a 1-19 to 0-15 score line.

Kevin Moran featured prominently for the city side over the course of the hour, but it was Shane Ryan who proved to be their top tallies man, hitting 1-8 for the winners.

The only goal of the game came on 15 minutes which helped them to a 1-13 to 0-8 lead at the break, with Ryan accounting for 1-5 of his side’s first half tally.

Fourmilewater rallied hard in this game with solid performances from Inter County pair Conor Gleeson and Jamie Barron as well as free taker Dylan Guiry, but they had to play second fiddle to the city side who along with Moran and Ryan also had a good afternoon’s work from John Mullane who was substituted in the final quarter of this game.

Last year’s runners up Passage needed an injury time goal from Eoin Kelly to book their place in the last four of the competition when they took on Dungarvan in the last game of the weekend.

The Old Boro had to play second best for the entire first half on the score board as they went in at the break trailing 0-8 to 0-6, but at the midway point in the second half Derek Lyons side had drawn level and looked as if they could get something from this game.

With five minutes to play Michael Kiely gave Dungarvan a 0-14 to 0-12 lead but Passage would hit back with a brace of Owen Connors scores to level matters with a minute of normal time still to play.

With it looking as if the sides would require extra time to see which of these sides would go into the semi final draw, the former inter county player got hold of a high delivery from Liam Flynn and he blasted past Darren Duggan in the Dungarvan goal, putting three between the sides. Gavin Crotty pulled a point back for Dungarvan but it proved to be a mere consolation score for the Old Boro side.

Meanwhile the 2015 Intermediate Champions Portlaw are relegated to the Intermediate grade for 2018 after they lost out to Ballyduff Upper at Fraher Field on Saturday evening. The Tannery men avoided relegation last year when they beat Cappoquin in a relegation play off were always expected to be fighting relegation again this year, and on the night they went under to the Reds on a massive 3-23 to 0-8 score line, with Mikey Kearney hitting 2-5 for the winners.

The question has been asked many times in recent years and have to be asked again, with so many times coming up to the senior grade in recent years only for them to lose that place after a year or two, is it time that a Premier Intermediate or Senior B Championship was introduced in Waterford, as many of the clubs coming up are finding it hard to hold their own against the stronger senior sides in the county, while they are often proving to be too strong for many of the intermediate sides in their own division, making them in effect yo-yo clubs.

Former County Secretary Timmy O’Keeffe proposed such a competition a few years back, but his idea was knocked without much discussion. Maybe now is the time to re-examine the idea. If we want Waterford to be strong in hurling going forward then surly the introduction of a competition for those not quite strong enough to play senior hurling but that little too strong for the intermediate competitions we currently have to be introduced.

The draw for the semi finals of the senior hurling championship were made on Sunday evening.

Last year’s the Champions of 2013 Passage will play De La Salle who won the News and Star Cup in 2008, 2010 and 2012, while Ballygunner who are going for a fourth title in a row will play last year’s Intermediate Champions Lismore who have to go back to 1993 for their last senior Hurling Championship win.