'What a terrific Christmas present' - Croke Park calling for brilliant Ballygunner

22 Dec 2025, 06:00 by Fintan O'Toole · The42

Fintan O'Toole

SHORTLY AFTER FOUR o’clock yesterday afternoon, a question floated across the winter air in Thurles.

Were Ballygunner in the process of enduring another All-Ireland semi-final to forget?

A permanent presence at the top of the Waterford hurling tree for the last dozen years, the modern masters of Munster, yet one who have shouldered their share of heartbreak on the national stage.

St Martin’s hurled with a level of ferocity that looked to have unsettled the favourites. They had curtailed the running game that so often enables the Ballygunner attack to be in rampant form. Between the 6th minute and the half-time mark, Ballygunner were restricted to two points, a low tally for a side that registered 4-57 across their three Munster outings.

Was this evidence that St Martin’s 2025 were to join Clarinbridge 2002, Ballyhale 2019 and 2022, and St Thomas 2023 in the last of semi-final conquerors of Ballygunner teams?

The question was answered with an emphatic no. Between the 38th and 60th minutes, Ballygunner posted 14 of the 15 points recorded. They were utterly dominant, a standard of hurling elevated all the more by the punishing test they had endured earlier in the game.

In the privacy of the Ballygunner dressing-room, no sense of panic or crisis filtered through at half-time.

“They’re a very reflective group, so they don’t look for excuses,” revealed manager Jason Ryan.

Ballygunner boss Jason Ryan. James Crombie / INPHOJames Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

“There’s never any mention of, we didn’t get this, or a referee didn’t do that, or the opposition didn’t do the other. It’s like, what can we do? They very much go after what they can chase.

“It was more a case of, these are the numbers, and how do we improve this, and how do we improve that? And away we go.

“The experience of Stephen O’Keeffe and Pauric and Philip, it’s just immense. Even the younger lads, Paddy Leavey’s not old by any stretch of the imagination, but there’s a lot of mileage on the clock, and there’s a lot of leadership there going right throughout the team.”

The sheer physicality of the first-half exchanges stood out but there was a reference point for Ryan to draw on, a test his team had already passed.

Ballygunner’s Kevin Mahony and Aaron Maddock of St Martin's. James Crombie / INPHOJames Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

“In the Munster Championship, the Na Piarsaigh game was a bit of an eye-opener. The lads had said to me, ‘Just wait until you see the physicality of this game, it’s going to be just so, so tough’. And it was. That was raw, really raw.

“The game out there, absolutely. There was a lot of traffic around the middle of the field so you’d get the ball and you’re just running into traffic and you’d need to shift it really fast. But the Na Piarsaigh game was definitely the most physical game that we’ve played. It didn’t matter if a guy was isolated one-on-one, he was going to know all about it.”

Ryan is in his opening season in charge, flourishing at club hurling after a sideline career characterised by inter-county football roles. He speaks in a style that hints at the privilege he feels at having inherited such a high-level group of hurlers. The good work that went on before him in Ballygunner in regularly highlighted.

“They’ve learned so much down through the years. There are great people in the backroom. Aiden Maher has been there for a number of years and Fergal Hartley and Patrick O’Sullivan, they’re all making really valuable contributions. Shane O’Sullivan deserves a lot of credit for all the work that he’s doing with them on their mindset. Darragh Mulcahy is our strength and conditioning coach and he’s done a really top-notch job.

“There are certain things that have happened this year but there’s way more that has happened over the last six, seven, eight years with Darragh O’Sullivan and David Franks and the work that they’ve done. The way they’re performing now is a combination of just multiple people that have supported them.”

In the St Martin’s camp, a wondrous hurling year that has lifted them to unprecedented heights drew to a close.

Back-to-back champions in Wexford for the first time. A maiden Leinster title, achieved with victories over two of the last three All-Ireland winners.

St Martin’s landed in Thurles with a healthy support base in full voice with the Christmas countdown in full swing. They hurled with terrific energy in the first half, producing passages of play that sparked boisterous cheers from their fans. At half-time it was natural for those in the stand to start dreaming of a bigger day in Croke Park, but in the second half Ballygunner hit them with a blast of reality.

“In the second half you have to hold your head up and say you were beaten by the better team,” reflected St Martin’s boss Daithi Hayes.

St Martin’s manager Daithí Hayes. James Crombie / INPHOJames Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

“Once you go chasing a team like Ballygunner, they’re very dangerous. Just got into their rhythm around the middle third, got a large number of players around there, got into their running game and we just couldn’t cope with them.

“With a couple of minutes to go we turned to each other there on the line and said we could ask no more of them. They’ve given us an unbelievable year, unfortunately today it’s just a step too far in the end. As a group they have probably given the club and the parish a year that they’ll never forget.”

St Martin’s were entitled to a sense of grievance over the first-half incident were Micheal Coleman could have been awarded a penalty and should have been awarded a goal, yet instead saw a free given in the opposite direction.

Hayes simultaneously acknowledged the officiating error and the fact the superiort team ultimately won out.