Ballygunner GAA is a hurling club based in Ballygunner village, on the outskirts of Waterford city. The club was founded in 1954 by local schoolteacher Jimmy McGinn.[citation needed]
Prior to 1954, there was no adult hurling team in the parish. All hurlers who came out of the small national school travelled into Waterford city to play for either the Erin's Own club or now archrivals Mount Sion. McGinn believed that there was enough talent in the parish to compete with the powerhouses of Waterford hurling. Having enjoyed multiple success at under age level through the local national school, McGinn set up the club to nurture the game in the small parish.[citation needed]
That same year, Ballygunner hurling club collected their first piece of a long line of silverware by winning the minor county championship.
The club holds Waterford Senior Hurling titles for the following years: 1966, 1967, 1968, 1992,1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2011 2014, 2015,2016, 2017, 2018, 2019,2020,2021,2022 and 2023. They are one of the main powers in Waterford hurling, winning numerous underage titles and also regularly winning the senior title.
"Golden era" (1954–1968)
Following the Minor Championship success in 1954, Ballygunner's senior side had to start from the bottom and work their way up.[citation needed] In 1956, they reached the Junior County Final against Geraldines. Although they lost by 2-7, it did not dishearten the team. The following year they gained promotion into the senior ranks by winning the junior championship.
In 1963, Ballygunner faced Mount Sion for the first time in a Senior County Final. It was Ballygunner's first at this grade. Mount Sion won the match by 4-6 to 3-4. Again in 1965, Mount Sion ran out victorious to ensure a three in a row, but by only one point this time around. The tide was beginning to turn in Waterford hurling.[original research?]
In 1966, Ballygunner first won the Waterford Senior Hurling Championship, defeating Mount Sion 2-6 to 2-3. In 1967 the club defeated Ballyduff Lower/Portlaw and in 1968, they beat Mount Sion to capture a first three in a row in the Waterford Senior County championship.
Relegation period (1980–1984)
As the successful teams of the 1960s began to age and retire, the club now faced a new problem.[original research?]
Up until the 1990s, Ballygunner village had a small population. This led to a lack of young people in the parish and thus a lack of juvenile players, and the same standard of under-age teams that had been developed in the club's early days could not be kept.[citation needed]
In 1980, the club was relegated to the intermediate grade. This was a blow to the club and parish in general.[citation needed] However, after failed attempts in 1982 and 1983, Ballygunner earned promotion to the senior ranks yet again in 1984 after a four-year absence.[citation needed]
"Glory days" (1992-2001)
In 1992, Ballygunner won their first county title since 1968. The team's backbone was the successful underage team that had won almost every underage honour that was in the county including back-to-back under-21 County titles in 1988-89. Billy O'Sullivan and Cian Cantwell captained the sides on each occasion. This team was the last team that James McGinn would train.[citation needed]
During this great era for the club, James McGinn died in 1995. He had seen the club he loved reach the pinnacle of Waterford hurling.[tone]
Between 1995 and 1997, the club won a second "three-in-a-row" in the Waterford Senior Hurling Championship. In 1997, after a fiercely contested local derby, Fergal Hartly made his way up to the presentation area in Walsh Park to collect the county title for his third time after a 2-17 - 1-14 defeat of Passage.
Although unable to manage a four in a row, they returned the following year to rob Mount Sion of a two in a row. Paul Flynn[who?] finally was given the opportunity to lift the county title for himself.[citation needed]
2001 Munster Champions
Ballygunner players before the 2001 Munster Club Hurling Final
After Mount Sion defeated Ballygunner in the 2000 county final, it looked like the beginning of the end of a historical era for the club.[tone] However, there was still some fight left in the aging team.[tone]
After the 2000 defeat, an AGM was held in the clubhouse in Ballygunner. At it, it was decided to elect Gordan Ryan as the new manager and the recently retired inter-county hurler Billy O'Sullivan as team captain. Ryan brought a new method of training to Ballygunner.[citation needed] Personnel training schedules were given to each player and almost weekly physical sessions were administered. This approach led to their first piece of silverware of the year in winning the County League.[citation needed] The next honour for the Gunners was the Sergent Cup.[citation needed]
In 2001, Ballygunner beat Lismore GAA 4-12 to 1-16 to claim its ninth Waterford Senior Hurling title. The proof that Ballygunner was not dead was clearly visible[to whom?] following strong performances by such senior players as Billy and Rory O'Sullivan, Stephen Frampton and Ray Whitty as well as performances from younger players such as Andy Moloney and Alan Kirwan.[tone]
The final played in Semple Stadium Thurles was a closely fought game until the final minutes. Having been off target from two scoreable chances, and with the deficit down to three points, Paul Flynn took control of the final in the last ten minutes. He pointed two frees, one of them from inside his own half, and then, with just two minutes left on the clock, he snapped up an Andy Moloney delivery and gave Blackrocks goalkeeper Trevor Barry no chance with a goal.[tone] Flynn landed another point from a free to seal the Gunners victory. Ballygunner beat Blackrock of Cork 2-14 to 0-12. After 35 years of trying, Billy O'Sullivan finally lifted a Munster Club Hurling trophy on behalf of his club.[citation needed]
Revival
In the years that followed their Munster triumph, players such as Stephen Frampton and Mick Mahoney had retired from senior hurling and all that was left of the original under 21 team was Billy O'Sullivan. However a new batch of young players, fresh off a minor county title, came into the fray. Players such as Shane O'Sullivan and Wayne Hutchinson, were to cement their places on the senior squad.
Ballygunner beat De La Salle to win the 2005 Waterford Hurling Championship. This was an important victory for the club,[original research?] as defeat would have meant their fourth straight loss in the County Final, having lost the previously three finals to Mount Sion.
Ballygunner defeated Lismore after a replay to win the 2009 senior County Championship. They were narrowly defeated in the Munster final by Newtownshandrum for the second time in recent years. In 2011, they captured their 12th Senior County Title at the expense of Tallow.[citation needed]
Ballygunner claimed a fifth successive Waterford Senior Hurling Championship for the first time in their history on 7 October 2018 at Fraher Field, with a scoreline of Ballygunner 2-18 to Abbeyside 0-13, in front of a 4,275-strong crowd.[1] Pauric Mahony gave a man of the match display scoring 13 points (0-8f) and assisted by goals from Goals from Brian O’Sullivan and Conor Power the Gunners secured the win.[citation needed]
Between 2014 and 2023, the club won back-to-back Waterford Senior Hurling Championship titles. They won their 10th title in a row in 2023, when they defeated De La Salle by 2-26 to 0-21 in Walsh Park.[2]
As of the 21st century, Ballygunner is one of the biggest clubs in Waterford.[citation needed] It caters for hundreds of juveniles from under 6 to under 16 and hundreds of adult hurlers from minor level to senior.[citation needed]
Development
In 1994, Ballygunner GAA finally acquired a permanent playing field beside the new national school. In 1996, a two-storey clubhouse was built with two dressing rooms, toilets, a referees' changing room and a small canteen.
After 2001, it was realised that to cope with the influx of young juveniles, and to provide adequate facilities, invest was required. A development plan was put into place, with phase 1 of the project involving an extension of the clubhouse to include two new dressing rooms and a meeting/trophy room. Next was the purchasing of 8 acres (32,000m2) adjoining the current site. On this site, plans were put down for a new top-quality floodlit all-weather pitch, a hurling and handball ally, a floodlit AstroTurf and a state-of-the-art indoor hurling arena with new clubhouse facilities. For the club's 50th anniversary in 2004, the hurling ally and all-weather pitch were finished. Fencing was erected around the new field and a scoreboard was put in place for the day. Then president of the GAA, Sean Kelly, officially opened the new facilities.[citation needed]
Another phase of development was started in 2006, and an AstroTurf pitch was built between the old and new pitches.[citation needed] Construction on the largest and most expensive project ever undertaken by a Waterford club subsequently began.[citation needed] At a cost of approx. €1.5 million, the indoor arena would be built across from the AstroTurf. Construction began in the summer of 2008. At the current time,[when?] the main structure has been built, the astro turf floor has been laid and construction is close to completion on the adjoining pavilion.[needs update]
Mount Sion is a Gaelic Athletic Association club located in Waterford City, County Waterford, Ireland. It was founded by teachers in the school of the same name. Although technically separate from the school, the club still maintains a close relationship with the school, sharing the same sports facilities in the city.
Paul Flynn is an Irish former hurler who played as a left wing-forward at senior level for the Waterford county team. He joined the team in 1993 and was a regular member of the starting fifteen until his retirement in 2008.
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Pauric Mahony is an Irish hurler who plays for Waterford Senior Championship club Ballygunner and was previously the captain of the Waterford senior hurling team before announcing his retirement from inter-county hurling in 2023.
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The 2019 Waterford Senior Hurling Championship is the 119th staging of the Waterford Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Waterford County Board in 1897. The championship began on 6 April 2019 and is scheduled to end on 19 October 2019.
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