Ballygunner v Loughrea: All You Need To Know

SUNDAY 18 JANUARY

All-Ireland club SHC final

Ballygunner v Loughrea, Croke Park, 1.30pm

ONLINE

Live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app.

TV

Live coverage on TG4, with coverage starting at 1pm.

RADIO

Live commentary and updates on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.

WEATHER

Overall dry for daylight hours with the best of the sunny spells for eastern counties. Rain will push into western counties later in the evening. Highest temperatures of 6 to 9 degrees in just light to moderate southeasterly winds. For more go to met.ie.

Referee: Chris Mooney (Dublin)

Killeen appeal successful

Loughrea's celebrations after their ruthless semi-final dismissal of Slaughtneil were more or less cancelled after the shock of the straight red card being meted out to man of the match midfielder Cullen Killeen right on full-time.

The incident wasn't picked up by the TV cameras though referee Johnny Murphy was adamant that the 19-year-old was guilty of a striking offence when tussling inexplicably with Brendan Rogers in the closing seconds of the match.

The Loughrea sideline and crowd were clearly apoplectic at the decision, however their anger was more than matched by Murphy's certainty at what he'd seen.

Loughrea engaged a senior counsel to help with the appeal, which has failed at the Central Hearings Committee (CHC) stage and subsequently at the Central Appeals Committee (CAC) stage.

Word then filtered through late on Friday that the club were successful at the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) and that Killeen would be free to play.

Ballygunner seeking to copperfasten standing among the greats

It's four years since unheralded substitute Harry Ruddle tore through a yawning gap in front of the Ballyhale Shamrocks full-back line and rifled home a winning goal with the last puck of the All-Ireland final, writing himself into Waterford hurling folklore.

That famous win has given Ballygunner - by now essentially the default Waterford SHC champions - a 100% record in All-Ireland club finals. The same can't be said for their semi-final record.

The Waterford city club have tended to be installed as automatic All-Ireland favourites at an early stage in the provincial club championships in the last couple of years, especially when the aforementioned Shamrocks have been taken out of the equation.

In both 2023-24 and 2024-25, they've stumbled.

They were untouchable in Munster in late 2023 and were heavy favourites to add another Tommy Moore replica to the cabinet.

They were derailed by a bruisingly physical St Thomas' side in O'Moore Park, the Galway champions winning a frenetic contest after a shootout.

Last year delivered an even bigger shock as they were turned over by Sarsfields - who'd been soundly beaten in Cork by divisional outfit Imokilly - in the provincial decider.

The comparatively early exit last year, by their standards, has afforded a chance of a reset. Jason Ryan, a manager more associated with Gaelic football, has taken over and surrounded himself with a strong backroom team.

This includes former Waterford captain and veteran of the county's 2001 Munster club success, Fergal Hartley, whose teenage son Mark is turning heads as a regular substitute.

He scored 0-08 from play in the Waterford minor final last August.

Otherwise, Ballygunner are motoring as well as ever.

Totemic inside-forward Dessie Hutchinson has been utterly rampant in this campaign, hitting 0-07 apiece against both Éire Óg and St Martin's, all bar one point coming from play.

Pauric Mahony, who at 33 is gone from the Waterford set-up for two years and not inclined to regret his decision, also floated over seven points in both games, albeit mostly from frees.

The St Martin's game looked dicey and finely poised until Ballygunner began monopolising possession on the opposition puckout and began to pull away inexorably, as so often before.

They've lost two from two against Galway clubs in the All-Ireland series.

Paul Flynn, Stephen Frampton, Hartley et al were beaten by a 14-man Clarinbridge - captained by Micheál Donoghue - in the 2001-02 All-Ireland semi-final.

Then came the sickening reversal against St Thomas' in Portlaoise two years back. Chance of third time lucky on finals day.

Underdogs Loughrea present major threat

The Galway champions are in their second All-Ireland final, 19 years after the first.

The class of 2006-07, who won a tempestuous county decider in which they dethroned All-Ireland champions Portumna, ran into a rejuvenated Ballyhale Shamrocks in the final, who had just won their first Kilkenny title in 15 years and were at the start of the second wave of national success.

Henry Shefflin was in his pomp and reigning Hurler of the Year and they also encountered a 19-year old TJ Reid, who plundered 2-02.

"My memory was watching TJ Reid come of age, he was deadly that day," recalled O'Brien this week, a 10-year old for that final. "A lot of the lads on this team were at the game as young lads."

That Loughrea side endured much county final torment in the years after, usually at the hands of Portumna who were in their imperial phase - '06 was very much a singular triumph and an outlier.

It wasn't until this latest crop came along, winning back-to-back titles, that Loughrea can claim the mantle of being the undisputed best team in Galway.

That was properly underlined by their win over the ultimate final day specialists St Thomas' last November.

It was the Peterswell club's first ever county final loss after eight victories between 2012 and 2023. And it was a testament to the latter's big game mindset that it was only a one-point game in the finish.

On the balance of play, Loughrea were much the better team and should have had four goals but had to settle for one, scored by Darren Shaughnessy.

If their forebears were associated with physicality, the current generation are more noted for their breadth of scoring forwards.

Corner-forwards Anthony Burns and Vince Morgan - the former of whom has seen plenty of league action for Galway - hit 0-05 and 0-02 from play in the county final and both buried goals in the win over Slaughtneil.

Galway regular Tiernan Killeen, meanwhile, pulls the strings from centre-forward, often eschewing point chances to pick out his corner-forwards.

Alongside Cullen and Caimin, he's one of three Killeens in action in the semi-final, although that's looking like it could be reduced to two this weekend.

Last year's semi-final ended in heartache against Na Fianna in Semple Stadium.

The Galway champs led for almost the entirety of the contest, only to be pegged back over the course of the second half. A late ball down the line was mis-controlled and Na Fianna rustled up the winner through AJ Murphy.

That Na Fianna subsequently won the All-Ireland final with such ease would have only deepened the frustration.

Loughrea made no mistake at the last-four stage this time.

Many had a quiet fancy for Slaughtneil on a sodden, over-grown pitch at Parnell Park - and the Ulster champions have twice beaten the Galway champions in the semi-final in the last 10 years.

But Loughrea made light work of the semi-final, easily matching their opponents in terms of physicality with the clear skill gap coming to the fore in the second half, as they cantered away to an easy 13-point victory.

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