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18th December 2022
07:18pm GMT
There was off-the-ball niggle everywhere, and it only added to the entertainment. Mullen and Leavey. Holden and Hutchinson. Mullen and Power. Cody and Sheahan. Everywhere.
The Shamrocks hared into a 0-3 lead but Ballygunner's purple patch came and, for parts of that first half, they looked like they'd run absolutely riot if given the faintest whiff of an opportunity.
Dessie danced around Holden for two points and the wizard that he is, young Patrick Fitzgerald sliced over two more beauties. Pauric Mahony looked as sharp as he has been all season but unlike Na Piarsaigh and unlike Ballyea, Ballyhale were able to hold back the tide.
Between them, Richie Reid, Darragh Corcoran and Joey Holden did most of the donkey wok. Reid swept up all before him and what more can you even say about Holden?
Dessie is the man of the moment but the full back got in these little flicks we've seen so often down through the years, he caught balls, broke balls, ran onto balls and calmly ran out with them. He was the main reason Ballyhale were able to hang in there when Ballygunner were on top.
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"He's an incredible man," said Hoban afterwards. "To me, he was man-of-the-match."
Eoin Cody was the official TG4 man-of-the-match but having been held scoreless in the first half, he wouldn't have been thinking about man-of-the-match awards at half-time.
But he thundered into the game in the second half and his second point, as he soared into the sky before pointing off the back foot, was as good as you'll ever see. Ballyhale were taking over at that stage. Colin Fennelly was winning the scraps and even though TJ had one penalty saved - Stephen O'Keeffe made four point-blank stops - but he was never going to miss twice.
"We weren't going to take no for an answer," Eoin Cody said afterwards. It wasn't going to happen. And it didn't happen.
Ballygunner played their part in that too, with Paddy Leavey and Pauric Mahoney taking on a pair of hopeful point opportunities that they'd usually play into Dessie. They did reduce the lead from four to three, however, which left the possibility hanging in the air that, like last year, there could be one last twist.
"You might have heard me shouting 'remember February,' from the line," says Hoban. They surely did. And they'll remember this one too.
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