AIB All-Ireland Club SHC Final: Ballygunner grind down Loughrea

AIB All-Ireland Club SHC Final

BALLYGUNNER 1-20 LOUGHREA 1-14

By John Harrington at Croke Park

A moment in the final minute of normal time encapsulated why Ballygunner won this All-Ireland Final.

Pauric Mahony chased what looked like a lost cause down the left sideline and strained every sinew to nudge the sliotar along the ground with an outstretched hurley away from a couple of Loughrea defenders before winning the hardest of hard-won frees.

The vocal reaction from his team-mates and the Ballygunner management told you what everyone involved with this team values more than anything else – hard-work and honesty.

Loughrea put up a brave fight but they were eventually worn down by this sheer relentlessness of Ballygunner who dominated the second-half to win comfortably enough in the end.

The Waterford club play the game with an admirable physical intensity that few teams can cope with, and it’s married with a skill-set that enables them to do the simple things consistently very well and also produce the spectacular on occasion.

Michael Mahony’s goal five minutes into the second half fell into that latter category and was the real watershed moment of the game.

Until then Loughrea had given as good as they’d gotten from Ballygunner, but after the concession of that goal it was an uphill battle they never looked like winning.

They should be proud of their effort though and will reflect that perhaps it might have been a different game had they taken more of their chances, especially in the first half when they struck eight wides and spurned two good goal opportunities.

Ballygunner opened the scoring after two minutes when Dessie Hutchinson did brilliantly to make space for himself by jack-knifing onto his left side and shooting over the bar accurately from a narrow enough angle.

You thought a score of that quality might presage some more big moments from Ballygunner’s most dangerous forward, but the rest of the half was as frustrating experience for him as he hit three wides.

Ballygunner have a tendency to dominate the physical exchanges in the middle third of the field but Loughrea matched their intensity as they fought tooth and nail for every ball.

After they survived a scare when Patrick Fitzgerald’s fumble spoiled a great goal-chance for bBallygunner, the Galway team’s confidence visibly grew.

With the score 0-4 to 0-2 in Ballygunner’s favour they created their first big goal chance of their own when Anthony Burns was put through on goal by a brilliant Brian Keary pass but the excellent Stephen O’Keeffe stood up strongly to his shot and saved.

Burns made amends a few seconds later when scoring a nice point to reduce the deficit to the minimum.

Vince Morgan saw another goal chance saved by O’Keeffe on 14 minutes but Darren O’Shaughnessy knocked over a point moments later to leave the teams tied at five points apiece.

Ballygunner looked like they were starting to get the measure of their opponents when Patrick Fitzgerald (2) and Conor Sheahan pushed them 0-9 to 0-7 ahead, but then Loughrea scored the first goal of the match.

Joe Mooney’s shot from distance fell short and O’Shaughnessy did brilliantly to ghost onto the flight of the ball and divert it from O’Keeffe to put the Galway club a point head.

Peter Hogan responded immediately when his stinging shot skipped off the top of the Loughrea crossbar and over for a point, and then Ballygunner’s most impressive forward on the day, Kevin Mahony, nudged the Waterford club ahead again.

The teams exchanged a free apiece before the break and Ballygunner went to their dressing-room leading by 0-12 to 1-8.

A Tiernan Killeen free drew Loughrea level at the start of the second-half but then Ballygunner struck for their all-important goal.

Peter Hogan sent Michael Mahony clear with a smart pass and the forward went straight for the jugular as he tore towards goal and then lanced a brilliant strike to the back of the Loughrea net.

It was a different game after that. Ballygunner condensed the space in their own half of the field as they dropped bodies back and they slowly strangled the life out of the Loughrea attack.

They started winning more and more breaking ball around the middle third and they punched holes in the Loughrea defence with accurate short-passing and off the shoulder runs.

Three points in a row from Pauric Mahony (free), Kevin Mahony, and lively substitute Mark Hartley pushed Ballygunner five clear and they had a firm grip on the contest now.

Loughrea needed a big moment to get back into the game and they nearly had it when Cullen Killeen put Burns through on goal, but once again O’Keeffe did brilliantly to rush out and smother the shot.

From there, Ballygunner killed the game like the best teams tend to do as they ran hard at Loughrea, drew fouls, and let Pauric Mahony do the rest as he hit three frees in a row that grew the gap to seven and put the result beyond doubt.

Only great teams win more than one All-Ireland Club Championship. This Ballygunner team is very deserving of that status.

Scorers for Ballygunner: Pauric Mahony 0-8 (6f, 2 65s), Michael Mahony 1-1, Kevin Mahony 0-4, Patrick Fitzgerald, Conor Sheahan both 0-2, Dessie Hutchinson, Peter Hogan, Mark Hartley all 0-1.

Scorers for Loughrea: Tiernan Killeen 0-6 (all frees), Darren Shaughnessy 1-1, Jamie Ryan 0-2, Johnny Coen, Anthony Burns, Vince Morgan, Ian Hanrahan, Neil Keary all 0-1

BALLYGUNNER: Stephen O’Keeffe; Aaron O’Neill, Ian Keny, Tadhg Foley; Harry Ruddle, Philip Mahony, Ronan Power; Conor Sheahan, Paddy Leavey; Dessie Hutchinson, Pauric Mahony, Peter Hogan; Patrick Fitzgerald, Kevin Mahony, Michael Mahony. Subs: Mark Hartley for Patrick Fitzgerald (38), Conor Tobin for Conor Sheahan (56), Cormac Power for Kevin Mahony (61)

LOUGHREA: Gearóid Loughnane; Paul Hoban, Johnny Coen, Kieran Hanrahan; Brian Keary, Shane Morgan, Joe Mooney; Ian Hanrahan, Cullen Killeen; Caimin Killeen, Tiernan Killeen, Jamie Ryan; Anthony Burns, Darren Shaugnessy, Vince Morgan: Subs: Alan Kelly for Brian Keary (40), Gavin Maher for Joe Mooney (45), Sean Sweeney for Paul Hoban (52), Martin McManus for Darren Shaughnessy (54), Neil Keary for Cullen Killeen (55),

Ref: Chris Mooney (Dublin)