Ballygunner's Philip Mahony, arguably his club's outstanding performer in 2015, veers clear of Fourmilewater's Craig Guiry during last Sunday's semi-final at Fraher Field.
Ballygunner and Tallow meet in this Sunday’s County Senior Hurling Championship decider at Walsh Park, a repeat of the 2011 decider where victory went to Ballygunner in a rather one sided game.
The fact that the champions are back in the final will not come as a surprise to most even if they are going to show a number of changes to the team this weekend which beat Mount Sion twelve months ago.
Neither is it a surprise to those who followed the Championship closely all year that Tallow have reached the Final as, along the way, the Bridesiders have played some good hurling with a team that has an nice blend of youth and experience.
The two sides clashed in mid-September in the last round of games in the league section of the Championship to see which of the two came out on top.
On that occasion at Bushy Park it was the holders that emerged on top winning by 0-20 to 0-16, with both sides playing slightly understrength sides.
Both sides head into Sunday’s game with a good record at their backs. The champions have won six of the seven games that they have played so far in the competition, while the Bride-siders won four of their seven games, drawing one and losing two.
The champions opened their campaign with a 2-18 to 0-9 win over Ballyduff Upper, a game which saw them lose star forward Pauric Mahony for the remainder of the year due to a serious leg injury.
They followed this up with a 1-14 to 1-7 win over Fourmilewater before they lost 1-17 to 1-12 against city rivals De La Salle.
Wins over Abbeyside (2-21 to 0-16) and Tallow (0-20 to 0-16) followed before the 2014 champions got the better of last year’s runners-up Mount Sion in the quarter-finals beating them 2-12 to 0-12.
And last Sunday evening, in a delayed semi-final due to the untimely death of former player Paul Foley, the Gunners beat Fourmilewater for the second time this year, this time by 1-16 to 1-12.
Tallow got their year off to a good start when they drew with De La Salle (1-15 to 2-12) in the opening series of games and followed it up with wins over neighbours Ballyduff Upper (2-15 to 1-13) and Abbeyside (2-13 to 1-11), a win that secured their place in the last eight of this year’s Championship.
The Bridesiders rounded off the group stage of the competition with defeats to Fourmilewater (1-13 to 0-15) and the aforementioned meeting with Ballygunner.
In their quarter-final they sensationally came from behind to beat a fancied Dungarvan side 3-13 to 0-18 and last time out in the semi final, they again saw off neighbours, this time in the guise of Ballyduff Upper by 1-14 to 0-16 at Fraher Field.
Ballygunner will field a strong side for this game and will also be able to call upon some quality reserves in the stand if needed.
They will have Stephen O’Keeffe between the posts with Robbie Cunningham, Barry Coughlan and Ian Kenny in the full-back line and Shane Walsh, David O’Sullivan and Philip Mahony on the outside line.
In midfield Harley Barnes and Shane O’Sullivan will man the decks while in attack the likes of Peter Hogan, JJ Hutchinson, the O’Sullivans, Powers and Gary Molloy will be fighting it out for the six starting places.
Tallow will also line out along familiar lines which means Shaun O’Sullivan between the posts and Mark and David O’Brien as well as Kenneth Kearney in the full-back line.
Aidan Kearney, the evergreen James Murray and Jordan Henley may well be the half-back line, though it will be of no surprise if Henley ends up on the inside line.
Former Deise hurler Paul O’Brien and Kieran Geary will form their midfield pairing with the forward unit likely to include William Henley, Thomas Ryan, Bob McCarthy, Shane Feeney, emerging talent Ryan Grey and Evan Sheehan.
This game should prove to be much closer affair than the 2011 battle between the two and may in fact prove to be even closer than the last clash between the two a few weeks back at Bushy Park.
In this year of unpredictability in the Senior Hurling Championship, from an early stage I had a feeling that one outside the big two (Ballygunner and De La Salle) would emerge as winners this year, with Dungarvan my prediction.
Ballygunner will go into the game with the favourite’s tag around their neck and should win. But has been an anything but typical year in the race for the News & Star Cup.
Could there be one more shock this year? Perhaps the side that knocked out my predicted tip for the title could emerge as winners of the Senior Hurling Championship for the first time in 30 years since they beat neighbours Ballyduff by 3-8 to 2-9 in 1985. Don’t rule it out.
