Fáilte chuig gaa.ie - suíomh oifigiúil CLG

Hurling

hurling

O'Keeffe won't overanalyse Ballyhale's goal-machines

Ballygunner hurler, Stephen O'Keeffe, pictured ahead of one of #TheToughest showdowns of the year, as his club face reigning champions, Ballyhale Shamrocks, Kilkenny, in the AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Final this Saturday, February 12th at 3pm. 

Ballygunner hurler, Stephen O'Keeffe, pictured ahead of one of #TheToughest showdowns of the year, as his club face reigning champions, Ballyhale Shamrocks, Kilkenny, in the AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Final this Saturday, February 12th at 3pm. 

By John Harrington

Ballygunner goalkeeper, Stephen O’Keeffe, won’t do any extra homework ahead of Saturday’s AIB All-Ireland Club Final despite the magnitude of the game and quality of the opposition.

Ballyhale forwards like TJ Reid, Colin Fennelly, Adrian Mullen, and Eoin Cody are all lethal goal-scorers, but O’Keeffe believes over-analysing their habits could do more harm than good.

“I always think you're better off to back yourself in a moment as a opposed to having watched loads of videos and studying what corner maybe a shooter prefers,” says the Ballygunner custodian.

“I think I'd kick myself if I did that and followed to the letter of the law what I studied and then the ball goes in the opposite corner and it wasn't a brilliant shot and I’d be thinking if I had just stood up and backed myself in a moment I’d have saved it naturally. I think that's something that would eat away at me.

“Obviously this is the biggest game of the year but now is certainly not the time to be forgetting what got you here, if that makes sense? We take huge pride in our effort that we put into every game from the first round game in Waterford to whenever the last game of the year is.

“I used to think when I was a bit younger and starting out that maybe the bigger the game the more spectacular a play you had to make. Whereas it's actually the total opposite. It's the time to double down on your process and remember the things that got you there and stick to that.”

Ballygunner goalkeeper Stephen O'Keeffe during the AIB Munster GAA Hurling Senior Club Championship Semi-Final match between Ballygunner and Loughmore-Castleiney at Fraher Field in Dungarvan, Waterford. 

Ballygunner goalkeeper Stephen O'Keeffe during the AIB Munster GAA Hurling Senior Club Championship Semi-Final match between Ballygunner and Loughmore-Castleiney at Fraher Field in Dungarvan, Waterford. 

O’Keeffe’s mantra has long been that, nine times out of ten, the best pass is the simplest pass.

It’s an attitude to the game that courses through this Ballygunner team. The fact they do the simple things well and almost always use possession wisely is one of the reasons why they’re such difficult opponents.

“I think it's that matched with a huge amount of work-rate,” says O’Keeffe. “We try and bring our work-rate levels up to the absolute max for the whole game.

“At the end of the day it's only going to be a simple pass if the player in front of you has managed to get rid of his man, I suppose. And that only comes through work-rate and high intensity running.

“If the receiver can get a bit of space which has come from that work-rate, then the simple pass is the one to take. But if that's not happening and you've a man putting you under pressure then there is no easy option and it starts to come into a bit of dog-fight.

“We've been in a few of them this year as well and we've had to dig it out and it would give you huge confidence that we can win that way as well. It's not every day you go out where the easy pass goes to hand with a man in open space, that's not realistic at this level.”

Ballygunner players, from left, Stephen O'Keeffe, Conor Sheahan, and Peter Hogan after the AIB Munster Hurling Senior Club Championship Final match between Ballygunner and Kilmallock at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork.

Ballygunner players, from left, Stephen O'Keeffe, Conor Sheahan, and Peter Hogan after the AIB Munster Hurling Senior Club Championship Final match between Ballygunner and Kilmallock at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork.

Stopping Ballyhale Shamrocks winning a third All-Ireland title in a row certainly won’t be easy, but it’s a challenge O’Keeffe and his team-mates are relishing.

If they are to become the first ever Waterford club to win an All-Ireland Club senior championship there’s a very good chance the Ballygunner goalkeeper will be required to produce some heroics.

He and his defenders will have to hurl out of their skins because this Ballyhale forward line poses an outrageous attacking threat.

“They absolutely do,” agrees O’Keeffe. “They have a lot of star players in their forwards that would be the envy of a lot of clubs around the country.

But, in saying that, we do pride ourselves in our backs and keeping clean sheets and keeping scores down as much as possible. I know if you look back at the scorelines since we came out of Waterford there's been a goal or two in most games, but if you dig a little deeper into that you might find that the vast majority of those were scored either in injury time or three minutes to go when we were a bit up and the result was probably already in hand.

“We definitely have a lot of confidence in ourselves as defensive unit and we do take a lot of pride in keeping clean sheets where possible.

“We're under no illusions how hard the challenge is obviously, but it's one we're absolutely looking forward to.”