St Thomas’ beat Ballygunner on penalties after epic All-Ireland semi-final

All-Ireland Club SHC semi-final: St Thomas’ (Galway) 1-23 Ballygunner (Waterford) 2-20

(St Thomas’ won 4-2 on penalties)

The ecstasy and the agony. As the Ballygunner players collapsed to the ground, the pitch in Portlaoise had already become a sea of red and blue. After an extraordinary All-Ireland club SHC semi-final, St Thomas’ were still standing.

“It’ll probably go down as one of the greatest club semi-finals of all time,” remarked David Burke afterwards.

It was a ferocious, magnificent battle between two of the country’s top club hurling teams over the last decade. Neither took a backward step, it was exhausting just watching them trade blows at O’Moore Park on Saturday night.

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It was a gripping contest ultimately decided by a penalty shootout – Evan Duggan scoring the winner after Dessie Hutchinson and Billy O’Keeffe had missed for Ballygunner. It was a cruel way for Ballygunner to bow out and they will look back on this All-Ireland campaign as a missed opportunity.

Ballygunner scored two goals in the opening 10 minutes on Saturday but were unable to kick on, and they led by three points during the first half of extra-time but couldn’t hammer the final nail in the coffin of their Galway opponents.

“Listen, it’s hard to take,” said Ballygunner manager Darragh O’Sullivan. “But fair play to them, there were several times when we were two or three points up and with the wind, and they just wouldn’t go away. You have to take your hats off to them, they kept coming back.”

It was an epic contest, both sets of players willingly, eagerly, putting their bodies on the line to deliver a match full of skill and physicality, big scores and big hits.  St Thomas’ were aggressive from the off and every score, tackle and turnover was greeted with a visceral roar from their raucous fans in the stand.

Not long ago some might have assumed Burke would be spending the entire season up in the stand too, because of the cruciate knee ligament tear he suffered in late March.However, he made substitute appearances in the latter stages of the Galway championship and on Saturday night he started his first competitive game since undergoing knee surgery in April. Burke played the entire match, all 80 odd minutes.

“No, I suppose I wouldn’t have imagined (back in March) being here coming up to Christmas,” said Burke. “All that was in my head was to get back for the knockouts for the club. At full-time inside I was getting a rub and the boys were looking over at me. I said I’d stay going as long as I could.”

Burke set the tempo with a fully committed pull in one of the game’s first contests for possession, and from those frenetic opening exchanges the match never let up. The teams went at it, blow for blow, both refusing to fall.

“The ferocity in the ruck ball was just a different level, oh my God,” admitted Burke. “If you look at Ballygunner, like all the teams that make it this far, it’s what they’re doing when they don’t have the ball, they’re working like dogs. If we didn’t match Ballygunner doing that, we weren’t going to win the game.”

Ballygunner chose to play against the wind at the outset of the game and that seemed to backfire almost immediately after James Regan netted a second minute goal for St Thomas’. But when Patrick Fitzgerald and Hutchinson replied with a goal apiece for Ballygunner, it seemed the pre-match All-Ireland favourites had weathered the early storm.

But the game would prove to be a hurling tornado, sweeping up and down the pitch all night. With Conor Cooney demonstrating impressive accuracy from placed balls St Thomas’ started to gain the upperhand towards the end of the first half, during which they scored 0-5 without reply.

The Galway champions led 1-10 to 2-5 at the turnaround but by the 41st minute Ballygunner, who then had the wind at their backs, had constructed a 2-10 to 1-11 lead. But St Thomas’ - who were seen as significant outsiders by some bookies beforehand - refused to go away.

“Look, in the end, it turned into a battle,” added O’Sullivan. “They’re a serious team and I don’t think they got the respect they deserved coming into it. People talking that Ballygunner were going to go out and win the game and win it easily enough, that was nonsense in my opinion.

“We knew coming up here that this had to be our best performance this year to get over that game. You have to take your hats off to them, in fairness.”

The game finished 1-18 to 2-15, with each side registering three points during the six tense minutes of injury-time. However, Ballygunner dominated the opening period of extra-time in which they scored 0-3 and had four wides, despite playing against the wind.

The Waterford champions led 2-18 to 1-19 at half-time in extra-time but St Thomas’ rallied again and a good score by Éanna Burke edged them one point in front with only seconds remaining. St Thomas’ looked to have snatched it.

But Billy O’Keeffe showed huge leadership from the rapid restart to take possession out near the wing and drive over a breathtaking equaliser. Penalties it would be.

St Thomas’ scored their first two, missed their third, but netted the fourth. Ballygunner scored their first, missed their second, scored their third but then failed to score their fourth, which left Duggan with the opportunity to win the game for his side. He duly obliged.

It is the first time St Thomas’ have beaten a non-Ulster team in an All-Ireland semi-final and sees them through to the decider for the first time since 2019.

“Last year we just didn’t perform (in the semi-final), didn’t turn up and Dunloy were the better team on the day and we hold our hands up, we were poor,” admitted Burke.  “We have to take that criticism on the chin, we went away hurt. We had to go back and try win Galway obviously but to get back here now and get to the All-Ireland final, it’s an unbelievable achievement.”

ST THOMAS’: Gerald Kelly (0-1, one free); Cian Mahony, Fintan Burke, David Sherry; John Headd, Shane Cooney, Cathal Burke; Damien Finnerty, David Burke (0-1); Darragh Burke (0-1), Conor Cooney (0-14, 13 frees), Victor Manso; James Regan (1-1), Éanna Burke (0-3), Oisín Flannery (0-1). Subs: Evan Duggan (0-1) for Sherry (52 mins); Damien McGlynn for Manso (53 mins); Bernard Burke for Darragh Burke (57 mins); Evan Brady for Cathal Burke (62 mins); Darragh Burke for Flannery (ft); O Flannery for McGlynn (68 mins); Cathal Burke for Headd (70 mins); D Sherry for Cathal Burke (72 mins);

BALLYGUNNER: Stephen O’Keeffe (0-1); Ian Kenny, Barry Coughlan, Tadhg Foley; Shane O’Sullivan, Philip Mahony, Ronan Power; Conor Sheahan (0-1), Pauric Mahony (0-7, six frees); Peter Hogan (0-1), Paddy Leavey (0-1), Mikey Mahony; Patrick Fitzgerald (1-4), Kevin Mahony, Dessie Hutchinson (1-4). Subs: Harry Ruddle for Fitzgerald (74 mins); Cormac Power for Hogan (75 mins); Billy O’Keeffe (0-1) for Sheahan (78 mins)

Penalties:

St Thomas’: Scored – Conor Cooney, Darragh Burke, Éanna Burke, Evan Duggan. Missed – Fintan Burke

Ballygunner: Scored – Pauric Mahony, Stephen O’Keeffe. Missed – Dessie Hutchinson, Billy O’Keeffe.

REFEREE: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)

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