A WEEK AFTER the damburst of joy after their Limerick breakthrough, Doon experienced the flipside at the same venue when stepping into the Munster arena.
They pushed champions Ballygunner all the way, but for manager Derek McGrath it was the presence of a key opposition player – who he is well acquainted with – that proved the difference maker in yesterday’s quarter-final.
Stephen O’Keeffe brought down two first-half Doon point attempts underneath his crossbar, while stopping goalbound efforts from Eddie Stokes and Pat Ryan in either half.
But it was his miraculous save early in the second half from Jack Ryan, at a stage when Doon were ahead by four points, that was the standout moment.
#GAABEO 32 nóim @DoonGaaClub 0-13 (13)@ballygunnerHc 0-9 (9)
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) November 3, 2024
Sábháil den scoth ag Stephen O Keefe
Could this be the turning point in the Game??#GAA #Hurling
BEO/LIVE ar @TG4TV pic.twitter.com/c7IBsuCl84
“Everything they had, every sinew in their body went into it,” said McGrath of his Doon team’s display.
“The regret is there were opportunities there, Stephen’s brilliance.
“Jack did everything right. We’d said during the week that Stephen, you have to bring it right in on top of him if you want to score on him. He did that to be fair. Just a brilliant save.
“He’s the greatest goalie that Waterford has ever had. He’s one of the greatest goalies. Go back and look at the 2007 and 2008 All-Ireland College finals and look at the saves he made against Thurles CBS, Kilkenny CBS, he’s doing that all his life and a nice chap into the bargain.
“Unsurprising in the fact that he saves goals, but the totality of effort from Doon was just very special to behold but Ballygunner found a way. Great team, great champions.”
After stringing together 11 Waterford titles in a row and as they chase a fourth Munster championship in succession, Ballygunner’s brilliance is clear to see.
McGrath doesn’t hide his admiration for a club that are local rivals of his native De La Salle.
“I’ve said it before, a lot of rubbish spouted about the area and the catchment area and the numbers etc. I see a lot of families there. I see the Hutchinsons, I see the Mahonys and obviously the co-relations to the Mahonys through the Fitzgeralds etc, four or five families at the core of it. All good people doing the right thing.
“They’re phenomenal fellas and fellas that probably, we say when SOK and Barry and Philip left the Waterford scene, they’re getting the kick then, out of the Shane O’Sullivans of the world.
“When they go back to Ballygunner, they bring that kind of high performance environment to their own clubs. And I couldn’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done for us in school and on a personal level.”
His own Doon players faced a testing challenge in returning to action just a week after that magical Limerick final win for the club, but McGrath and the players were determined not to hide beind the schedule.
“It probably was (hard), but there was plenty of excuses there. In terms of the general perception it was that Doon’s first one, so they’re on the beer for the week. And there’s elements of that that are very true in terms of just maybe two or three days.
“If you look at the experience of Richie English, Barry Murphy, Pat Ryan, Darragh O’Donovan, Adam (English), I think I said it was 19 All-Ireland medals between panellists etc in the room, so it’s a fair starting point.
“We said all week we didn’t want to get into the mentality of, ‘look we’ve had a great year anyway, we’ve kind of ended a famine.’ We tried to go to the end and I think we did as good as we could, so if that makes sense. I think Ballygunner will get a lot from it as well, as might other teams.”
“We focused a lot on the start of the game because Ballygunner have come and what they’ve done to Sars and Ballyea and Kilruane after having that eight or nine week break.
“I think we had the motivational angle, it was good for us. There was a bit of freedom in our play.
“I thought we were on top and we were troubling them with the running game, I think there was something in that for us. We were good at the offloads and we were getting a bit of joy out of that but just sustaining it was difficult.”
greater keeper but turned his back on his county, selfish selfish man
@James Molowney: what are you in about. Involved in county for over 10 years, with loads of sacrifices. How many years did you play for your county or senior club for that matter. Nice input from Derek, a gentleman of hurling. Well done to both clubs on a great sporting occasion. Onwards and upwards to you both.
@Ben Breathnach: You could at least do your homework. he left Waterford in times of need especially when they stood by him after the shower incident!
@James Molowney: There are a few words that would describe you but unfortunately none could be printed here.
@John Fitzpatrick: one of them being ‘gowl’