Waterford GAA Thread - Mod note post #1

Yeah they said on the beosport commentary today that it’s next Sunday.

Next Saturday at 7 !!

Ballygunner won the minor county title yesterday, beating de la salle by 0-15 to 0-10. That's 5 minor titles in a row for Ballygunner.

the division 3 final is this evening and features dungarvan v fourmilewater. I must say I'm surprised to see dungarvan operating at division 3 level at minor

Why surprised at dungarvan in div 3 ? Roanmore in div 2 , Mt Sion in div 1 giving walkover and wining one match

just surprised that a senior club in a town like dungarvan wouldn't have the numbers or quality to compete at a higher level than division 3 at minor level.

I saw the walkovers being given during the summer, desperate to see that especially at the A grade.

Eastern Junior (A) Hurling Final result- Mount Sion 2-13 (19)- Roanmore 0-14, Mount Sion will face Brickey Rangers in the County Junior (A) hurling final with the winner promoted to the Intermediate grade of there respective division. Brickey Rangers will represent Waterford in Munster regardless of the county final result

Weekends fixtures

Fri 1st Oct St Mollerns GAA pitch 7.30pm- County Junior B Hurling Final- Ballygunner vs Fourmilewater

Sat 2nd Oct WIT Arena 1.30pm- County Junior C Hurling Final- Butlerstown vs Old Parish

Sat 2nd Oct Fraher Field 2.30pm- Western Intermediate Relegation playoff replay- Ardmore vs Shamrocks (1st game finished 4-20- 4-20)

Sat 2nd Oct Walsh Park 4pm- County Intermediate Hurling Final- Dunhill vs An Rinn

Sat 2nd Oct Fraher Field 7pm- Senior Hurling Relegation playoff- De La Salle vs Ballysaggert

Sun 3rd Oct Walsh Park 2pm- County Senior Hurling Final- Ballygunner vs Roanmore

Tickets on sale

https://www.universe.com/users/waterford-gaa-JX1H5R?fbclid=IwAR0jfsVhMpiGCi_3IqDyJwRi0bEORCsNnVmqq1T9ZdclcTXbI4JhneKIRbM

that's fair enough Tommy, I would see them as a big club from the town but I wouldn't know the numbers they have and so on.

Disappointing to see Shane Ronayne quit to take over the Cork ladies. I suppose it’s a reflection of how far ladies game has come that it’s a more attractive job than a senior men’s intercounty role

We had one somewhat unexpected win in last weekend’s county senior hurling semi-finals but we should also have had a completely unexpected result as Mount Sion absolutely threw away their game against Ballygunner. 

For three quarters of its duration this game went along predictable lines. Mount Sion got stuck into their opponents right from the start, and with the help of a converted penalty from Austin Gleeson were one point up at the end of the first quarter. However, in this period they failed to put away three good goal chances, one of them producing an excellent Stephen O’Keeffe save.

Mount Sion continued to keep the pressure on and then, in the closing minutes of the half, Ballygunner took over, hitting four points on the trot to go in two points ahead. Although they only extended their lead by two points in the third quarter they still seemed to be comfortably in control.

Then, completely unexpectedly, Mount Sion took over in the final quarter. Their defence completely closed down the Ballygunner attack while sending a stream of good ball to their own forwards. The latter did reduce the deficit to a single point but really should have been out of sight before two late points got Ballygunner over the line. During this period Mount Sion had a string of really bad misses, with several shots falling short (a sure sign of lack of self-belief) and Jamie Gleeson hitting three wides in a row from good positions

Then, in the 60th minute, with Sion a point down, Gleeson, with an easy tap-over point available, opted to look for a goal, passing the ball inside to Anthony Kirwan who also passed up the equalising point and instead went for goal with a shot that went the wrong side of the post. So the previous week we had Passage’s Mikey Cummins going for a point when a goal was needed while last week we had Jamie Gleeson going for a goal when a point was needed.

In the other semi-final, Roanmore produced another display of high commitment, good inter-passing and hard running to record a well-deserved comfortable win over a clueless Dungarvan. It may be that Dungarvan did not treat their opposition with due respect, or that they were on a downer after their high-emotion win over Abbeyside the previous week, but they fell well short of the high standard of their earlier performances. 

From start to finish Dungarvan opted for a long-ball game whose predictability was easy meat for a well-organised Roanmore defence. Even then, they had the opportunities to win the game, but hit six bad wides in the third quarter, and paid for their wastefulness when Roanmore got the sucker goal against the run of play in the 44th minute. After that, with Patrick Curran forced off with an injury, Dungarvan simply fell to pieces, failing to score after the 48th minutes despite having wind assistance. Roanmore, winning breaking ball all over the field, surged to victory, led by the outstanding Gavin O’Brien in midfield.

A feature of this game was the excellent performance of Billy Nolan playing in a defensive centre back role. Nolan is probably sacrificing an intercounty career as a goalkeeper by playing outfield for his club, but given his hurling ability and the fact that they have a good alternative keeper in Jack Chester, it makes sense for the Roanmore club. Up to now they have been playing Nolan in a forward position which has not really worked out that well, but last Sunday they would appear to have found the perfect position for a player with his attributes. It will be interesting to see how it works out against Ballygunner who, this year, have really been missing Philip Mahony who plays in a similar role for them.

I also had a look at the two divisional Intermediate finals last weekend. In the West, An Rinn were significanly weakened by the unfortunate injury to Jack Ó Floinn the previous week, and appeared to be in trouble as Modeligo started strongly, playing some really good hurling. However, An Rinn worked their way back into the game and took over completely in the second half. They would have won much more comfortably had they not messed up a series of goal chances. One of the highlights of the game was Donie Breathnach’s display of skill, pace and lovely striking. I always thought that he had the ability to make the grade at intercounty level, but unfortunately it was not to be.

Last year’s merger of Bunmahon with Dunhill led to the latter acquiring the services of Michael Harney, and this probably goes a long way to explaining why they are now the East Intermediate champions. Ferrybank had plenty of possession in this game, but time and again their attacks perished on the rocks of a strong Dunhill defence, superbly marshalled by Harney playing in a holding role (similar to Billy Nolan’s with Roanmore). He was simply in a different class to all around him, raising the question again as to why he is not involved with the county senior panel, especially given their urgent need for a third ball-winning half back.

Up front, former county player Shane Casey led the way for Dunhill, giving an exhibition of striking from both play and placed balls. This was in contrast with the efforts of the other forwards in both teams who shot an inordinate number of wides in what was a poor game.

One final comment: In the Western final the referee blew for everything while in the Eastern final the referee blew for nothing. One feels for teams trying to deal with this level of inconsistency in officiating.

Dunhills second year joined with bunmahon ,lost the eastern final last year to ballyduff lower

https://twitter.com/gaa_waterford/status/1443615415058550796

Never know but they will need to have the game of there lives and hope Ballygunner have a bad day. Roanmore might not have enough scoring power

Ballygunner beaten by Fourmilewater in the Junior B final last night. A sign of things to come perhaps

Few finals on today junior A final between Mount Sion and Brickey Rangers at 1pm, Junior C final between Butlerstown and Old Parish at 1.30pm and Intermediate final between Dunhill and An Rinn on at 4pm

Congrats to Dunhill

Will Mount Sion as Eastern junior A champions replace them for next year ?

The west intermediate grade will be a minefield next year with Ballyduff and Ballysaggart both back down, and no one going up senior