Borris-Ileigh Quash Ballygunner’s hopes of Back to Back Munster Titles

There was heartbreak for Ballygunner at Pairc Ui Rinn on Sunday afternoon as they lost out to a strong Borris-Ileigh side who joined Ballygunner on two provincial championship wins on the Roll of Honour and the North Tipperary Club now go on to play Galway Champions St Thomas’ in the All-Ireland Semi Final on January 5.

Played out before an attendance of 2,663 this game was a thriller from start to finish and from very early it looked like whichever side emerged as the victors on the day would be worthy winners.

It was Ballygunner that were looking to be in the driving seat at the break as they turned around with a 0-9 to 0-6 lead, but the Tipperary Champions recovered well in the second half and when they opened up a two point lead it must have looked as if victory would be theirs but this is an experienced Ballygunner side and when Barry O’Sullivan netted a goal to put them back in front the hopes of the huge Borris-Ileigh support inside the ground must have been asking themselves had their hopes for a second Munster Title in 33 years evaporated.

However the Borris-Ileigh support saw their hero’s dig very deep and came up with the scores that secured them a deserved victory at the end of a thrilling encounter.

The weather conditions on the day dictated that this was never going to be a high scoring game. It was the Tipperary Club that opened the scoring with a point on 26 seconds but as we have seen many times over the years, Ballygunner were in front within three minutes when Pauric Mahony split the Borris-Ileigh posts at the city end of the ground with a brace of frees.

Brendan Maher who was outstanding throughout for the Tipperary side levelled matters when he put over a ’65, Ballygunner were back in front when Billy O’Keeffe fired over, but Brendan Maher levelled matters once more when he put over another placed ball.

Dessie Hutchinson who has shown fine form all year for Ballygunner once more showed why he is so highly regarded when he got away from the experienced Paddy Stapleton to edge Ballygunner back in front.

While Borris-Ileigh would score next through Jerry Kelly, it was Ballygunner that proved to be the better of the two sides when it came to scoring in the remainder of the half as Pauric Mahony and Dessie Hutchinson added a brace of scores to their tally and Paddy Leavy chipped in with one, while the North Tipperary side had single responses from Kevin and Brendan Maher, both from frees and Conor Kenny hit one from play to leave then trailing by three at the break.

Borris-Ileigh started the second half smartly and an early converted free from Brendan Maher meant that Ballygunner’s advantage on the scoreboard was much more manageable for them.

On 38 minutes Ballygunner carved out a good goal scoring chance as Dessie Hutchinson picked out Peter Hogan who was through on goal. The Borris-Ileigh defence took a gamble and fouled Hogan rather than allow him to have a shot at James McCormack in the Borris-Ileigh goal, resulting in referee Johnny Murphy whistling for a free from which Pauric Mahony put over the Borris-Ileigh crossbar to once more open up a three point lead.

Those that may have underestimated the challenge that Borris-Ileigh would pose to the 2018 Champions were told to ignore what the bookies were telling them elsewhere on this blog at the weekend, and at the end of the third quarter the Tipperary outfit netter the first goal of the game.

The North Tipperary Club won a ruck inside their own 65 metre line and when Ray McCormack took off with the ball he raced at the Ballygunner defence, laying the ball off to Kieran Maher who kept a cool head and finished off his left beating Stephen O’Keeffe in the Ballygunner goal and in doing so levelled matters 1-7 to 0-10.

The atmosphere was electric inside the ground after this and when Brendan Maher followed up with a brace of scores the first of which coming from play, Borris-Ileigh found themselves two points up with 12 minutes left to play.

The sign of a good team is how they bounce back after a period in which they conceded five points in a four minute spell, and Ballygunner bounced back in fine fashion as Dessie Hutchinson from out near the sideline picked out Barry O’Sullivan who was unmarked and he raced at the Borris-Ileigh goal and he made no mistake in sending his side back in front by one with ten minutes remaining.

Jerry Kelly and Conor Sheahan swapped scores to keep Ballygunner in front, but the sides were level again with just over four minutes to play when Brendan Maher put over a free after Paddy Leavy was deemed to have over carried the ball.

The game was now up for the side that showed the greater hunger and it was the North Tipperary side that showed this. Conor Kenny picked out Niall Kenny with a pass with just over a minute of normal time to play. The Borris-Ileigh centre forward was fouled as he attempted to get the better of Stephen O’Keeffe who saved the Borris-Ileigh man’s effort, but the Limerick referee was indicating that he was allowing an advantage to happen after the foul was committed and when it amounted to nothing he called the play back and awarded the side in Maroon and White a free, which Brendan Maher already a hero to the people of Borris-Ileigh elevated his status even further when he converted what was to prove to be the winner with his seventh point of the game.

With extra time to be played on the day if required the North Tipperary side proved to be ultra disciplined making sure that they gave away no scoreable free which Pauric Mahony would have been expected to convert.

The North Tipperary side held on to win in what a close game throughout. Just one point separated the sides at the end of the sixty plus minutes and to further show how close things were both sides shot seven points each, which Borris-Ileigh saw seven efforts fall short of the target, two more than which Ballygunner missed.

Borris-Ileigh: James McCormack; Séamus Burke, Paddy Stapleton, Liam Ryan; Seán McCormack, Brendan Maher, Ray McCormack; Tommy Ryan, Dan McCormack; Conor Kenny, Niall Kenny, Kieran Maher; Kevin Maher, Jerry Kelly, James Devaney.

Sub: Jack Hogan for Tommy Ryan (25),

Scorers: Brendan Maher 0-7 (0-5 frees, 0-1 65), Kieran Maher 1-0, Jerry Kelly 0-2 (0-1 s/l), Niall Kenny, Conor Kenny, Kevin Maher 0-1 each.

Ballygunner: Stephen O’Keeffe; Eddie Hayden, Barry Coughlan, Ian Kenny; Billy O’Keeffe, Philip Mahony, Shane O’Sullivan; Michael Mahony, Conor Sheahan; Paddy Leavy, Pauric Mahony, Barry O’Sullivan, Tim O’Sullivan , Peter Hogan, Dessie Hutchison.

Subs: Conor Power for Peter Hogan (43), JJ Hutchison for Tim O’Sullivan (54)

Scorers: Pauric Mahony 0-5 (0-4 frees), Dessie Hutchinson 0-3, Barry O’Sullivan 1-0, Paddy Leavy, Conor Sheahan, Billy O’Keeffe 0-1 each.

Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)