Probably the most worried individual leaving Sunday’s AIB Club Championship semi-final between Ballygunner and Clarinbridge, in Semple stadium, was the recently appointed Waterford hurling manager, Just-In McCarthy, muses An Fear Rua …

For if Just-In was hoping a Ballygunner victory would be a portent of even better things to come later this year down Déise way, his hopes were sadly misplaced. Not only that, but the Waterford panellists on display – with the honourable exception of Fergal Hartley – did little to inspire confidence that a change of fortune may be on the way for the county.

It is not fair to single out a player, especially in the ethos of our amateur games, for excessive criticism. No one will be more perturbed at the Thurles result than Paul Flynn himself. Yet, it has to be recorded, this was another of Flynn’s most mercurial of days. He started extremely well – working hard, looking good under pressure and picking off some fine scores. Not even a very hard tackle as he headed goalwards was sufficient to put him out of the game at that point. Then a series of wides, from shots taken much too far out the field, presaged a fading from the scene entirely and ultimately a somewhat bad-tempered performance in the second half

Certainly, it looked as if some of those first half misses by Flynn might have been avoided had he passed the ball inside to the full forward line. But, maybe he had ‘sussed’ something early on that became increasingly obvious to everyone else as the game wore on. The sturdy Ballygunner full forward line mostly looked flatfooted and out of sorts, under relentless pressure from the Clarinbridge backs. Maybe Flynn felt, in the circumstances, he was better to have a ‘pot’ himself from far out, than risk sending the ball in to the full line? Whatever the reason, vital scores, that could have kept the ‘Gunners in closer touch at half time, were missed. Overall, not only were the Ballygunner forwards slow and ponderous, and very uncertain in the ‘first touch’, but they selfishly refused to pass the ball to better-placed colleagues.

After absorbing the early Flynn-driven pressure, by the twenty minute mark, the ‘Bridge were more into the game. A quick succession of golden chances of goals were inexplicably squandered until, finally, Alan Kerins scored a peach of a goal. After that, Ballygunner never really closed the gap on the Galwaymen.

Just into the second half, aided by the wind, and a quick Tony Carroll point looked like a Ballygunner revival was in the making. But, Brian Carron replied within a minute. The referee was showing yellow cards all over the place, somewhat inconsistently, and while technically correct, the sending off of the ‘Bridge’s Gerard Spelman was harsh, for the particular foul involved. But, the Galway response was impeccable. Dave O’Donoghue sent over a magnificent point within a minute. At that stage, it was clear to AFR that Clarinbridge were not going to be broken.

After the sending off, we witnessed a re-enactment of one of The Seven Great Mysteries of the GAA … how is it that, so often, a team of fourteen men beats fifteen? The answer to that conundrum often lies more on the sidelines, in the dugout, than on the field of play. This game was no exception. The Galway mentors shrewdly took Alan Kerins, who had been playing brilliantly, out of the forwards, and placed him at centre back, where he continued to play the proverbial ‘stormer’. In fact, deservedly, he won the accolade of ‘Man of the Match’. On the other hand, Gordon Ryan and the Ballygunner mentors seemed to have no plan on how to use the extra man to advantage. Sure, Stephen Frampton seemed to wear the mantle, but it was usually in a position of just standing still, rather than using mobility. However, Frampton seemed to tire as the game went on and this may explain his inability to press home the advantage. More often than not, the extra player simply resulted in four or five Ballygunner men foosterin’ around aimlessly for the sliotar, with a fleetfooted Galway player winning it and whipping it up to their forwards.

If the club championships are a line on county form, then Galway supporters must feel quietly confident of another good championship run this year. Waterford fans, on the other hand must, despairingly, be reciting the old prayer … ‘How long more, Oh Lord? … How long more must thy servants wait?…’

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