Ballygunner 0-19
Glen Rovers 1-9
BALLYGUNNER BARGED PAST Glen Rovers in the second-half at a muddy Walsh Park to earn a spot in the Munster club final for the first time since 2009.
Denis Walsh’s charges overturned a five point half time deficit as they outscored the Cork side by 0-16 to 1-1 with the wind in their favour.
Dead ball ace Brian O’Sullivan was on song with eight of that tally and nine overall. The experienced Shane O’Sullivan also grabbed hold of the game at midfield and struck two uplifting points.
Patrick Horgan supplied an exquisite finish to Dave Noonan’s sideline on 50 minutes but his contribution of 1-5 wasn’t sufficient for Richie Kelleher’s side.
Both sides were reduced to fourteen during the opening half as Johnny Murphy flashed red to Dean Brosnan and Philip Mahony after an ugly skirmish.
David O’Sullivan filled the vacancy left by Mahony at centre back to settle them down.
The soggy Walsh Park surface passed a late pitch inspection an hour before throw in. Glen Rovers played with wind assistance at first.
Barry Couglan made a goal saving block in the first minute to stop Dean Brosnan. Patrick Horgan converted the subsequent 65.
Peter Hogan shortened the grip to equalise at the opposite end. Glen number four Gavin Moylan then landed a massive point from out the field.
Hogan levelled again following a crossfield pass by Brian O’Sullivan. The Gunners were dealt a blow when Hogan was substituted due to injury.
Horgan sent over a majestic score close to the sideline on the quarter hour mark.
On twenty minutes, a flare-up erupted close to the stand sideline as players from both teams piled in.
When the row subsided, the Limerick referee showed reds to Philip Mahony and Dean Brosnan.
After the lengthy delay, Glen Rovers pushed on with four in a row. Horgan claimed two frees with captain Graham Callanan and Conor Dorris also on target (0-7 to 0-2).
In injury time, Brian O’Sullivan returned Ballyguner’s first point in 23 minutes from a free. David Cunningham had the last word of the half in the fourth added minute (0-8 to 0-3). The visitors hit eight first half wides.
As underfoot conditions worsened, Brian O’Sullivan belted in a 65 for Ballygunner a minute into the second period. Harley Barnes followed up with an excellent strike from 60 metres.
The charged up Gunners drove at the Glen with the wind at the backs and blitzed their opponents with ten unanswered singles. Shane O’Sullivan supplied an inspirational score before Brian O’Sullivan levelled at eight each.
The Gunners free taker snuck them ahead with a huge dead ball on his own 65. They added four more through Brian O’Sullivan, Tim O’Sullivan, Billy O’Keeffe and Stephen Power to surge 0-13 to 0-8 clear after 48 minutes.
With ten minutes left, Patrick Horgan doubled on Dave Noonan’s sideline cut as he connected with the sliotar first time at the back post.
Shane O’Sullivan replied immediately for the Gunners as they finished strongly to make the provincial decider for the eighth time.
Scorers for Ballygunner: Brian O’Sullivan 0-9 (7fs, 1 65’), Stephen Power (1 65’), Peter Hogan, Shane O’Sullivan 0-2 each, Harley Barnes, Billy O’Keeffe, Tim O’Sullivan, Conor Sheehan 0-1 each.
Scorers for Glen Rovers: Patrick Horgan 1-5 (3fs, 1 65’), Gavin Moylan, Graham Callanan, Conor Dorris, David Cunningham 0-1 each.
Ballygunner
1. Stephen O’Keeffe
2. Eddie Hayden
3. Barry Coughlan
4. Ian Kenny
5. Shane Walsh
7. Philip Mahony
8. Harley Barnes
6. David O’Sullivan
12. Billy O’Keeffe
13. Conor Power
11. Barry O’Sullivan
9. Shane O’Sullivan
19. Tim O’Sullivan
15. Brian O’Sullivan
10. Peter Hogan
Subs
Stephen Power for Hogan (14)
JJ Hutchinson for T O’Sullivan (46)
Sean O’Sullivan for C Power (59),
Conor Sheehan for B O’Keeffe (61).
Glen Rovers
1. Cathal Hickey
2. Ben Murphy
3. Stephen McDonnell
4. Gavin Moylan
5. David Dooling
6. Brian Moylan
7. Graham Callanan
8. Donal Cronin
9. Dave Noonan
10. Dean Brosnan
11. Patrick Horgan
12. David Cunningham
13. Conor Dorris
14. Brian Phelan
15. David Busteed
Subs
Adam O’Donovan for Brian Phelan (47)
Liam Coughlan for Busteed (52)
Glenn Kennefick for Dorris (58)
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick).
About time
@Marcus Massey: lipstick on a pig is still a pig. Can’t wait for more provincial hammerings…..
@Marcus Massey: Not really, provincial championship still part of it. Until it’s got rid of your going to continue to see hammerings in early rounds
This will last about 2 years before they change it again. No one will care about the secondary competition, been tried before. No more handy routes to all Ireland’s for Dublin, Kerry or Mayo right enough
@mel roberts: in fairness ye could give Mayo a pass direct to the final and they still wouldn’t win it
@Neill Trebble:
@Neill Trebble: I have to agree with you old chap
@mel roberts: if whatever came out of ulster was good enough Kerry and dublin wouldn’t have all those “handy” all irelands. Unfortunately 90 per cent of the time despite ulster being competitive they don’t produce teams good enough to beat kerry and dublin. The number of all Ireland’s each county has shows that .
@WESHALLNOTBEMOVED: or you could turn that the other way and say by the time teams came out of Ulster they had already had 3 tough games and had to peak considerably earlier than Kerry or Dublin did
@mel roberts: or you could turn it around and say that the team that comes out of ulster are more battle hardened and have more competitive games and dublin and kerry have more of a chance of being caught cold . You can spin it anyway you want but at the end of the day one way or another you have to beat the best teams to win an all ireland
@WESHALLNOTBEMOVED: That’s not technically true is it though because almost every year in division 1 there are 4 Ulster teams, every chance there will be 5 Ulster sides in Division 1 next year. Dublin, Kerry and Mayo have only had to play one of those sides come championship. Dublin played 1 division 1 side to win all Ireland 2020. Tyrone played 3 and a Team going back to division 1 last year. Still trying to say the routes the same?
@mel roberts: 4 ulster teams and give a look at who still ends up winning. So your completely contradicting yourself there. If they are so competitive why do kerry and dublin still win the league the majority of the time ?
@WESHALLNOTBEMOVED: You just don’t get it do you. Dublin and Kerry can go for the league because they don’t have a competitive game to worry about for 3 months after it. Ulster sides don’t have that luxury as we actually have a competitive province. Stick Kerry and Dublin into Ulster and see how many leagues they go to win
@mel roberts: This is correct. Good to see change
@mel roberts: it works in hurling. It works at club level
@Neill Trebble: This is the year
Sounds good as long as the 2nd Tier Cup is promoted well and their is good incentive for teams to do well in it
Doesn’t matter what system they introduce it will be the same big teams at the business end of the Championship.
@O’Brien Michael: your completely missing the point and don’t understand the significance of this move for the whole Gael family.
@O’Brien Michael: eh, the big “better” teams will aways be there at the business end of any sporting competition, do you want some kind of handicap system to allow poorer teams win?
@O’Brien Michael: the big teams like Liverpool
Far too many games for the players
@Magoo: how many will it take to be winners of the championship, is it 9?
@Magoo: yeah players much prefer training….
Nonsense. Open draw is the fairest option. GAA just thinking of revenue as always
@Ciaran O Cuisin: no doubt they’re thinking of revenue. They’re a business after all. But could they also be trying to create something for the weaker teams to aim for? Granted it needs promoting for full buy in
Great to see some sort of changes being made and ideas being tried out. No matter what they do, people will complain about new plans and ideas. If I doesn’t work, what difference, an AI winner is still going to have to beat top teams to win Sam.
@Eoghan O’Leary: You are correct , no matter what is proposed it will not satisfy everyone. Something new has to be tried. Hopefully, they will make a big thing out of the Tailteann Cup , maybe we would see better games in it than in the Sam.
I would like to see an open draw , and what would be wrong with Kerry going to Clones to play Monaghan, and Dublin maybe. going to Hyde Park ??.
The road to professionalism has begun
@Brendan Devlin: why do you think that?
@Brendan Devlin: that started about 15 years ago.
Ya ya
@Darren Mullins: kolo kolo
As long as it doesn’t effect the club championships with the increased number of games at county level
It’s like the champions league and the Uefa league right?
T
Someone do the maths for me there. How many games is that, league and championship?
@John O’Dowd tier 2 gets rid of the weaker counties. More money to be made and invested in tier 1. The provincial championship will be next for the delete button. One sided games in the provincial championships are counter productive to those pushing an elitist agenda. Only for resistance within some counties the provincials would already be done away with. Doing away with the provincials could also save the gaa millions on Casement Pk.
@Brendan Devlin: funny guy! Come here, do you buy your tinfoil at the wholesalers or in a regular shop??