Mount Sion await as Ballygunner close in on Waterford nine-in-a-row

Ballygunner 2-17 Roanmore 0-12

Mount Sion 1-19 De La Salle 2-12

BALLYGUNNER’S NINE-IN-A-ROW bid will be decided in a mouthwatering Waterford senior hurling final against the last club to achieve the feat, Mount Sion.

The reigning Munster and All-Ireland champions booked their return to the county final with a convincing 11-point win over Roanmore in a repeat of last year’s decider.

And they will now face Mount Sion, who were four-point winners over De La Salle in Sunday’s second semi-final.

Ballygunner trailed Roanmore early on in Walsh Park and needed a 16th-minute goal from Dessie Hutchinson to draw level, 1-3 to 0-6.

The champions had edged into a slight lead by the break, 1-5 to 0-7, and they had already started to widen that gap when Patrick Fitzgerald struck on 45 minutes to put eight between the sides, 2-8 to 0-11.

Roanmore would only manage one more point from then on as their challenge faltered, leaving Ballygunner to extend their remarkable unbeaten championship run.

Waterford star Austin Gleeson signs autographs after Mount Sion's win. Tom Maher / INPHO Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO

Mount Sion’s record 35 county titles include nine straight from 1953-1961, but it’s now 16 years since their last victory back in 2006.

They led De La Salle by three points, 0-9 to 0-6, at the break and struck the first significant blow shortly after the restart when Martin O’Neill stretched their advantage to six, 1-9 to 0-6.

Eddie Meaney’s goal brought De La Salle right back into the fight, and when Reuben Halloran grabbed another two minutes from time, it set up a grandstand finish with just two points between the teams, 1-17 to 2-12.

But it was Mount Sion who found the decisive scores when it mattered most, adding the final two points to seal their return to a first county final since 2014.