Mount Sion's Michael Gaffney is given the slip by Paul Flynn en route to the Ballygunner veteran's decisive first-half goal.  | Photos: Michael Kiely

Mount Sion's Michael Gaffney is given the slip by Paul Flynn en route to the Ballygunner veteran's decisive first-half goal. | Photos: Michael Kiely

Ballygunner 1-15; Mt Sion 0-14

■□■ View More Photos

Ballygunner qualified for yet another County Final when they defeated old rivals Mount Sion at a reopened Walsh Park last Sunday in a semi-final that unfortunately failed to catch fire. Still, this was a close, tough game from start to finish and it was only in the last 10 minutes that Ballygunner pulled away to book their place in the decider.

Played on a relatively poor surface, the match lacked the intensity of Ballygunner/Mount Sion clashes of old but the Gunners will not be overly worried about that as they attempt to claim the County title for the eleventh time.

The pre-match programme proved relatively worthless as Ballygunner made no fewer than ten positional switches from the team listed. Mount Sion played as selected but found themselves a point in arrears when Paul Flynn converted a free following the very first attack of the match.

The aforementioned Flynn and Ken McGrath then exchanged frees before we witnessed a piece of vintage Flynn magic. Receiving the ball 30 yards out with his back to goal, he dummied to the right, just enough to throw Michael Gaffney off his scent, and turned to his left. He raced towards the Mount Sion goal with the sliothar on his stick. He seemed to stumble on the edge of the square and lose control of the ball, but he still managed to nudge the ball into the top corner of Ian O’Regan’s net.