Waterford midfielder Shane O'Sullivan was among the Ballygunner scorers.
Ballygunner 2-13 Abbeyside 0-14
There was absolutely nothing at stake when Ballygunner and Abbeyside met in the Senior Hurling Championship at Walsh Park last Sunday evening, and it showed.
To say that this was a mediocre game would probably be an insult to mediocrity as in reality this only a glorified challenge game.
The county champions used the game to give an opportunity to players who had not seen a lot of game time in the championship to date, while Abbeyside has one eye on this weekend’s senior football semi-final with Gaultier.
For Abbeyside, Patrick and Laurence Hurney didn’t feature at all while Gary came on as a second half substitute for Richie Foley. They were also very quick to replace Mark Ferncombe when the young forward picked up an early hand injury.
Ballygunner, with a minor hurling semi-final approaching this weekend against Mount Sion, rested both Pauric Mahony and Stephen O’Keeffe.
The game itself was a low-scoring limp affair with many of the scores coming from placed balls.
The game was delicately poised in the early stages at 0-2 apiece before Ballygunner scored a goal through Brian O’Sullivan.
Despite Abbeyside goalkeeper Daryll Ryan making a wonderful double-save from Shane O’Sullivan and JJ Hutchinson, O’Sullivan poked the ball home from the edge of the square.
The goal was one of the rare bright spots in the opening quarter although Abbeyside’s John Hurney and Patrick Lynch did illuminate proceedings with long range points in the 15th and 17th minutes respectively.
Ballygunner kept the scoreboard ticking over with Brian O’Sullivan taking over the free-taking duties from the rested Stephen Power while Mark Gorman proved a reliable free-taker for the westerners.
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