Na Piarsaigh 2-15

Ballygunner 2-20

ALL-IRELAND CHAMPIONS Ballygunner booked their place in the Munster Club SHC Final yet again with a 2-20 to 2-15 win over Na Piarsaigh at the TUS Gaelic Grounds.

The Waterford supremos produced a stunning second-half showing to come back from a five-point deficit at half time.

The evergreen Pauric Mahony was in scintillating form for Ballygunner, finishing the game with a haul of 0-13, seven coming from play.

Na Piarsaigh hit form quickly in the opening quarter and led by four, but Ballygunner then punished a defensive error with Dessie Hutchinson netting the opening goal of the game.

Kevin Downes and Conor Sheahan then swapped points before Mahony levelled the game for the first time.

The same man then put Ballygunner in front with his second point inside 60 seconds, but there was to be a sting from Na Piarsaigh.

In typical fashion, William O’Donoghue broke out from a ruck and found Keith Dempsey with a pin point pass. Dempsey then raced through on goal and fired low past Stephen O’Keeffe.

Na Piarsaigh hit form again with Mike Foley and Daithi Dempsey firing over points to put them three points to the good.

They finished the half in style with a second goal that was finished by Conor Boylan but after excellent build up play by Keith and David Dempsey.

But the 2-11 to 1-9 half-time lead was as good as it got for the Limerick champions as Ballygunner limited them to just four second-half points.

Mahony hit the target three times in the opening seven minutes of the half with a long range Ronan Lynch effort being Na Piarsaigh’s response.

A timely Peter Casey point put his side four to the good but Ballygunner brought that lead back to just one point thanks to a Patrick Fitzgerald goal.

Mahony then shined once more by twice giving them the lead in the space of four minutes. Boylan had a chance to get a third Na Piarsaigh goal on 44 minutes but his shot from close range was too high and he had to settle for a point.

Ballygunner responded with Sheahan’s fourth of the game and they never looked back. With Mahony to the fore, Ballygunner eased through the final 10 minutes to earn a five-point victory.

Scorers for Na Piarsaigh: Kevin Downes 0-4 (3f), Keith Dempsey and Conor Boylan 1-1 each. Will Henn and Peter Casey 0-3 each, Mike Foley, Daithi Dempsey and Ronan Lynch 0-1 (1f) each.

Scorers for Ballygunner: Pauric Mahony 0-13 (6f), Patrick Fitzgerald 1-1, Conor Sheahan 0-4, Dessie Hutchinson 1-0, Peter Hogan and Ronan Power 0-1 each.

Na Piarsaigh

1. Evan Condon

2. Cathal King
3. Mike Casey
6. Emmet McEvoy

5. Mike Foley
4. Jerome Boylan
7. Ronan Lynch

8. William O’Donoghue
9. Keith Dempsey

10. Kevin Downes
15. Peter Casey
11. Conor Boylan

13. Will Henn
14. Daithi Dempsey
12. Adrian Breen

Subs:

30. Sean Long for Foley (29 inj),
27. Tommy Grimes for M Casey (54 inj)
17. David Breen for Downes (57)

Ballygunner

1. Stephen O’Keeffe

2. Ian Kenny
3. Barry Coughlan
4. Tadhg Foley

5. Shane O’Sullivan
6. Phillip Mahony
7. Ronan Power

8. Conor Sheahan
9. Paddy Leavey

15. Pauric Mahony
11. Mikey Mahony
12. Peter Hogan

13. Patrick Fitzgerald
14. Kevin Mahony
10. Dessie Hutchinson

Subs:

17. Harry Ruddle for Fitzgerald (57)
18. Billy O’Keeffe for K Mahony (61)

Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork)