Ballyduff complete the job

Waterford SHC Final/Ballyduff Upper 1-18 Ballygunner 1-14:With just a minute of normal time remaining Ballyduff looked home and dry as they enjoyed a sixpoint lead over hot favourites Ballygunner in this Waterford hurling final at Walsh Park.

Suddenly the Gunners were thrown a lifeline as second half substitute Paul Flynn saw his cross from the right corner finished to the net by Stephen Power and just two points divided the teams when Andy Moloney pointed with the board showing four minutes of added time.

It looked like being a nerve-tingling finale for Ballyduff after they had dominated for so long. In those dramatic final minutes the strength of character they had shown throughout the game was in evidence as they regained the initiative with a Brendan Hannon point from a close-in free and another from a sensational strike from a midfield free by goalkeeper Adrian Power, his second of the game, to seal a great win.

The teams were level on just one occasion in this game when Stephen Power's fifth minute point cancelled out Hannon's opening score.

Thereafter Ballyduff took control with All Star Stephen Molumphy dominating in midfield while their speedy forwards cut the Ballygunner defence to shreds. The Ballyduff goal came in the 10th minute when Patrick Kearney ran on to a Stephen Molumphy delivery to fire home.

With wing forward Jamie Kearney pitching in with four great points from play Ballyduff were full value for a half-time lead of 1-11 to 0-8.

Ballygunner needed a good start to the second half but Ballyduff made the early running, increasing their lead to 1-15 to 0-10 inside 10 minutes and the Gunners were forced to play their trump card as county star Paul Flynn replaced Barry Mullane in attack.

While Flynn's presence caused new problems for the Ballyduff defence the lead remained intact until those dramatic final minutes.

Anything other than a Ballyduff victory here would have been a travesty as they were clearly the better team in all departments.

Ballygunner were outplayed and outpaced for long periods and it was only their great experience, gained in nine successive final appearances, that enabled them to come within two points of the winners at the end of normal time.

There were wild scenes of celebration at the end of the game as Ballyduff prepared to take the cup back to West Waterford for the first time since 1993.

Ballyduff Upper now progress to face Clare champions Tulla in the Munster semi-final in Clare on Sunday week.

BALLYDUFF UPPER: A Power (0-2, two frees), M Drislane, S Hannon, G Feeney, P Molumphy, T Feeney, T Molumphy, J Twomey, S Molumphy, S Kearney, M Molumphy (0-1), J Kearney (0-6), P Kearney (1-0), B Kearney, B Hannon (0-9, nine frees). Subs: K Geary for B Kearney, S Cunningham for Twomey, S Feeney for Geary.

BALLYGUNNER: P Haran, C Kehoe, A Kirwan, R O'Sullivan, T Power, F Hartley, W Hutchinson, D O'Sullivan, S O'Sullivan (0-1), A Moloney (0-3) , S Walsh (0-1), B Mullane, S Power (1-6, six frees), JJ Hutchinson (0-1), G O'Connor (0-2). Subs: J Kearney for T Power, P Flynn for Mullane, M Kearney for D O'Sullivan.

Referee: Michael Wadding