Clare performances against Ballygunner a mixed bag

26 March, 1972
Newmarket-on-Fergus 5-8 Ballygunner 4-3
at Sean Treacy Park, Tipperary Town

A note in The Munster Express the week before the game said much about this Munster final showdown that had been a very long time coming — three years in fact.
“It’s been a long time coming and without question the game has lost all of its appeal — except, of course, for the clubs involved,” the short preview noted.
And it was true because when it came down to the winning and playing of this 1969 Munster final there were plenty of takeaways from a contest that The Clare Champion said was “tough and uncompromising” before the Blues emerged with an eight-point victory to put Munster Club titles back-to-back.
The first half decided it as “after playing into the jaws of a near gale force wind, victory was as good as on its way to Newmarket”. This was all down to their great finish to the half when a point by Michael Kilmartin was quickly followed by a goal when Paddy McNamara got a touch to a Liam Danagher free for a crucial goal that gave them a 2-3 to 2-2 interval lead.
“McNamara’s goal came at a vital stage and it gave Newmarket the heart to face the second half with justifiable confidence,” wrote Seán King in The Clare Champion.
Confidence that saw them cut loose in the opening six minutes of that second half with three goals that left the Waterford champions reeling and gave the Blues and ten-point lead.
Mick Arthur marked his introduction for this brother Val by blasting to the net, with Michael O’Leary and Timmy Ryan doing likewise before Paddy McNamara and Kilmarting flighted over points to give the champions a 12-point lead.
Ballygunner did bulldoze their way through for a couple of goals that reduced the margin to six points, but Newmarket kept the scoreboard ticking with points by Danagher and Jim Woods before the end giving them a convincing victory.
Brothers Billy and TJ Meehan were the stars of the defence, as was Gus Lohan who was described as “the Eiffel Tower in the middle of Newmarket defence” in a victory that Sean King said, “should go a long way towards adding fuel to the fire of revival that is at present burning its way into the hearts of Clare hurling men”.

Newmarket-on-Fergus: Kevin Twomey; John O’Leary, Michael Considine, Brian Meehan; DJ Meehan, Gus Lohan, Con Woods; Liam Danagher, Pat O’Leary; Timmy Ryan, Paddy McNamara, Val Arthur, Michael Kilmartin, Jim Woods, Michael O’Leary. Sub Michael Arthur for Arthur.

Scorers: Paddy McNamara (2-1), Timmy Ryan (1-1), M. Arthur (1-0), Michael O’Leary (1-0), Michael Kilmartin (0-3), Jim Woods (0-2), Liam Danagher (0-1)

Ballygunner: P. Flynn, M. Hearne, P. Casey, J. Phelan; M. Gaffney, T. Hearne. C. O’Sullivan; T. Cummins and J. Phelan; P. Hearne, S. Hearne (capt.), C. McCabe; M. Connors, J. Warren, V. Connors.

Referee: Donie Nealon (Tipperary)

24 November 1996
Wolfe Tones 4-9
Ballgunner 4-8
at Semple Stadium, Thurles

What a day and what a win and what a journey for Wolfe Tones as they completed their long trek from no-hopers to being the best in Munster after a dramatic victory in a contest that went right down to the wire.
All that after what looked like being a canter for a cock-a-hoop Shannon side in the first half and into the early stages of the second half as they built up a 12-point lead against the Waterford champions.
That there could be such a wide margin between the sides in the first half scarcely seemed possible after a cagey opening that saw the Tones eke out a 0-3 to 0-2 lead after 17 minutes.
However, from there Alan Cunningham’s side just cut loose — left-corner forward Paul O’Rourke goaled, before full-forward Finbarr Finbarr Carrig followed with and 60 seconds later as the energised Tones moved through the gears to build up a 2-6 to 0-3 interval lead.
A great platform that became more elevated again within just 12 seconds of the restart when left-half-forward Paul Lee waltzed through the porous Ballygunner defense to plant another goal beyond Ray Whitty to give his side a 3-6 to 0-3 lead.
It looked over, but the fact that Ballygunner nearly came back from the dead was a testament to the star quality of their talisman Paul Flynn. It was his 35th-minute goal that breathed some fire into their challenge, even Paul O’Rourke grabbed his second five minutes later to make it 4-6 to 1-5.
That should have been that, only for the Gunners to outscore the Tones by 3-3 to 0-3 in the closing 20 minutes to just fall shy of what would have been a great comeback.
No matter, it was the Tones day in a year to remember that captain Brian Lohan revealed had started nearly 12 months previously. “This didn’t just happen by accident,” he said. “There were an awful lot of players who put an awful lot of work in going back to January 13th and really in fairness it was time for us in Shannon to do something and we did.”
“We were no-hopers,” remarked selector Tony Mulcahy. “We only scored three points in the championship last year and have turned it around to win a Munster Championship.
“They are a super bunch of lads. Alan has been a super manager and John Hodgins has been a great coach and the lads have trained so hard for this day. This is the crowning glory,” he added.

Wolfe Tones: Damian Garrihy; Gerry Mclntyre, Brian Lohan, Martin Hartigan; Frank Lohan, Sean Power, Paul Meaney; Denis Riordan, Pat O’Rourke; John Riordan, Ciaran O’Neill, Paul Lee; Paul O’Rourke, Finbarr Carrigg, Paul Keary. Sub Derek Collins for O’Neill.

Scorers: Paul O’Rourke (2-4), Paul Lee (1-2), Finbarr Carrigg (1-1), Paul Keary (0-2)

Ballygunner: Ray Whitty; Cormac Lapthorne, Niall Warren, Darragh Lapthorne; Stephen Frampton, Fergal Hartley, Rory O’Sullivan; Liam Whitty, Paul Power; Billy O’Sullivan, David Codd, Tony Carroll; Mick Mahony, Darragh O’Sullivan, Paul FIynn. Subs Sean Lyons for D Lapthorne; Gordon Ryan for D O’Sullivan.

Scorers: Paul Fynn (2-4), Paul Power (1-1), Gordon Ryan (1-1), Billy O’Sullivan (0-2)

Referee: Pat O’Connor, (Limerick)

28 November, 1999
St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 4-9
Ballygunner 3-9
at Semple Stadium. Thurles

“For All-Ireland champions St Joseph’s the roller-coaster thunders on,” wrote Liam Horan in The Irish Independent. “For Ballygunner, no apparent end to their Munster Club championship trauma.”
It summed up this Munster Championship game perfectly. For the ‘Parish’ it was back-to-back Munster titles — the first Clare team in over 40 years to reach this level of consistency and achievement in provincial competition as they emulated the 1967 and ’68 wins of Newmarket-on-Fergus.
For the ‘Gunners, it was the sight of a Clare club jersey that in those years was enough to make them weep — all because it was the fourth time in five years that they’d been on the receiving end from the Banner County representatives.
Sixmilebridge (1995), Wolfe Tones (1996), Clarecastle (1997) and now a St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield side that produced a tour de force that was arguably as good as anything they produced in their glory years from 1998 to 2001.
There may only have been four points between the sides at the end, but it flattered a Ballygunner side that were a beaten docket at half-time as a ravenous St Joseph’s built up a 3-8 to 1-4 interval lead that all but this final to bed.
Full-forward Ciaran O’Neill led the charge with 2-1, with plenty of others lending a scoring hand as they built up a huge lead that had Ballygunner chasing a losing cause from a long way out.
O’Neill, Greg Baker and Seanie McMahon, via a penalty, bagged the first half goals, while O’Neill’s second on 46 minutes after Jamesie O’Connor did the spade work as they moved 4-9 to 2-6 clear with just over ten minutes left.
Ballygunner’s only consolation was that closed the game out with 1-2 without reply, but even this failed to close the gap between the sides when it came to class. It was a case of the ‘Parish’ nonpareils who had ‘Gunned down their opposition. Mercilessly.
“We will never tire of winning,” said Ollie Baker. “Definitely. When we lost county finals in 1994 and ’97, we knew we had the nucleus of a good team.
“The only thing that wasn’t functioning right in the club was the players out on the pitch. Once we got that right, everything just fell into place,” he added.

St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield: Christy O’Connor; Ger Hoey, Donal Cahill, Kenneth Kennedy; David Hoey, Sean McMahon, Darragh O’Driscoll; Ollie Baker, Joe Considine; Colm Mullen, Jamesie O’Connor, Noel Brodie; Greg Baker, Ciaran O’Neill, Andrew Whelan. Subs: Fergal O’Sullivan for Whelan, Dermot Daly for Brodie.

Scorers: Ciaran O’Neill (2-1), Greg Baker (1-1), Sean McMahon (1-1), Jamesie O’Connor (0-2), Andrew Whelan (0-1), Ollie Baker (0-1), Joe Considine (0-1), Colm Mullen (0-1)

Ballygunner: Ray Whitty; Niall O’Donnell, Niall Warren, Rory O’Sullivan, Stephen Framptom, Fergal Hartley, Alan Kirwan; Tom Fives, Sean Lyons; Billy O’Sullivan, Mick Mahony, Tony Carroll; Paul Power, Darragh O’Sullivan, Paul Flynn. Subs Paul Foley for Lyons; Liam Whitty for Mahony.

Scorers: Paul Flynn (1-5), Darragh O’Sullivan (1-0), Paul Foley (1-0), Paul Power (0-2), Stephen Frampton (0-1)

Referee: Johnny McDonnell (Tipperary)

3 December, 2022
Ballygunner 1-23
Ballyea 0-17
at Semple Stadium, Thurles

If the meeting between the sides in 2021 was anything to go by, this Munster final day out of Ballyea was always going to be something of a mission impossible as they tried to face down a Ballygunner side competing in their fifth success decider.
The ‘Gunners had blitzed Ballyea by 17 points in Cusack Park, when the injured Tony Kelly could only look on from the sides and wonder if he could have made a difference to proceedings.
Of course, he could — something that was hammered home 12 months later when he put on a show to keep Ballyea in this game for so long before they faded somewhat coming down the stretch to lose by nine points.
This margin didn’t really reflect on the effort that the two-in-a-row Clare champions put into this one — with Kelly on fire and practically unmarkable for vast swathes of the contest they stayed right in this one coming into the last quarter when only four points separated the sides.
Ballyea had been on the front foot for much of the first half, leading 0-7 to 0-6 before Ballygunner struck for the only goal in the game in the 20th minute.
The scorer was 18-year-old Paddy Fitzgerald and it proved crucial, but Ballyea would have been level at the break had Aaron Griffin not missed a good chance.
However, Kelly’s 0-8 in the first half in a flawless display left Ballyea only 1-11 to 0-11 in arrears before he landed another soon after the resumption, as did Mossy Gavin, to leave only a point between the sides.
Alas, they just couldn’t keep it up as the All-Ireland champions outscored their opponents 0-12 to 0-4 over the remainder of the contest to claim a fourth provincial title from 13 final appearances.
“It was never comfortable until maybe the last three or four minutes,” reflected keeper Stephen O’Keeffe, “when we could sit back a little bit when we opened up a bit of a lead and were starting to pick up points on the counter”.

Ballygunner: Stephen O’Keeffe; Ian Kenny, Barry Coughlan, Tadhg Foley; Shane O’Sullivan, Philip Mahony, Ronan Power; Gavin Sheahan, Paddy Leavey; Mikey Mahony, Pauric Mahony, Peter Hogan; Dessie Hutchinson, Kevin Mahony, Paddy Fitzgerald. Subs Harry Ruddle for K Mahony, Billy O’Keeffe for Hogan, Timmy O’Sullivan for Fitzgerald, Tom Gallagher for Power, Darragh O’Keeffe for M Mahony.

Scorers: Pauric Mahony (0-10, 6 frees, 1 65); Paddy Fitzgerald (1-4); Dessie Hutchinson (0-4); Kevin Mahony (0-2); P Hogan (0-1), Mikey Mahony (0-1), Tadhg Foley (0-1)

Ballyea: Barry Coote; Brandon O’Connell, Peter Casey, Paul Flanagan; James Murphy, Jack Browne, Gearóid O’Connell; Tony Kelly, Stan Lineen; Pearse Lillis, Gary Brennan, Cillian O’Connor; Mossy Gavin, Niall Deasy, Aaron Griffin. Subs: Morgan Garry for C O’Connor, M O’Leary for Griffin, Cillian Brennan for Lineen, Cathal Doohan for Gavin.

Scorers: Tony Kelly (0-11, 6 frees, 1 65), Niall Deasy (0-2), Pearse Lillis (0-2), James Murphy (0-1), Mossy Gavin (0-1)

Referee: M Kennedy (Tipperary)