Brilliant Ballygunner complete Waterford SHC 11-in-a-row

September 02, 2024

Ballygunner fan Tom Mullane lifts the Waterford SHC trophy. ©INPHO/James Crombie.

Ballygunner’s dominance of the Waterford SHC continued at Fraher Field on Sunday when they powered to a 2-28 to 2-10 victory over Abbeyside Ballinacourty.

The win secured an incredible 11-in-a-row of News & Star Cups for the city side who have now gone 58 championship games unbeaten in their own county. Veteran sharpshooter Pauric Mahony scored 0-11 from 12 shots, while Ballygunner’s other joint-captain Conor Sheahan fired over 0-4 from midfield on a day when Dessie Hutchinson and Patrick Fitzgerald also raised green flags. In all, the winners had 10 different scorers as they put their West Waterford opponents to the sword.

Abbeyside were competitive in the opening quarter when Michael O’Halloran and Michael Kiely were both on target to leave them just two points adrift, 0-4 to 0-6. But the three-in-a-row Munster champions then cut loose to outscore them by 1-9 to 0-1 in a devastating 13-minute period to take a 1-15 to 0-5 lead into the break.

Despite having wind advantage in the second half, Abbeyside fell further in arrears when Fitzgerald grabbed Ballygunner’s second goal in the 36th minute. To their credit, the challengers replied with a brace of Kiely goals, but they were completely outclassed before an official attendance of 4,012.


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