John Horgan on hurling: Ballyhale and Ballygunner served up a game as a good as a World Cup final

IT was a straight choice last Sunday, the World Cup final or the All-Ireland Club SHC semi-final between Ballygunner and Ballyhale-Shamrocks.

This column went with the latter but in the end we got the best of both worlds, the hurling game had reached its conclusion with the cup final going into extra-time.

On both counts, it was fascinating stuff and it made for compelling viewing on the box.

The hurling was top-drawer stuff with the old dogs for the hard road, Ballyhale-Shamrocks getting the verdict over their great rivals, the team that crushed them last season with a last-gasp goal in Croke Park.

There was so much to take in from what transpired between them again last Sunday, drama in bagfuls, goalkeeping greatness, penalties saved and converted, sublime score-taking, heroic defending and some outstanding individual performances.

In the week before Christmas, it was as good as it gets and it illustrated that these two great teams would be a match for a lot of inter-county teams.

When the sides collided last season, Ballygunner brought in Harry Ruddle with just a few minutes remaining and it was his most dramatic of goals that swung it their way.

They did exactly the same thing again last Sunday, the same time on the same pitch, on he came again in the game's dying embers and it seemed that the Waterford and Munster champions were trying to spook their arch-rivals.

This time it didn't work and Ballyhale will be in Croke Park again in the new year for another date with destiny against Dunloy, the Antrim club ousting the hottest of favourites in the other semi-final, St Thomas's from Galway.

That outcome provided further proof that you can never underestimate a team from the Saffron County and that goes all the way back to 1989 when Offaly rocked the entire country on their way to defeating Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Of course, Ballyhale will be the massive fancy again against Dunloy but they'll prepare for that final in the exact same manner as they did for Ballyhale The club championships in all the grades is certainly illustrating that the hurling gospel is being spread far and wide. And that can only be for the greater good of the game.

In the All-Ireland junior final we will have a club from Sligo going up against our own Ballygiblin and again, whilst the Cork club will be the big fancy they too won't underestimate their opponents from the less fashionable unit from Yeats country.

In the All-Ireland intermediate club final we will have a team from Mayo, Tooreen defeating the Ulster team Liatroim in the semi-final and they'll face Monaleen from Limerick in that decider.

So, all four provinces will be represented in those three club finals in the new year.

Of course, having an Ulster club in the senior final will be nothing really new with Dunloy having played in four previous deciders, losing to Birr after a replay in 1995 and to Newtownshandrum in 2004 in two of them.

Maybe their time has finally come and what a celebration there would be in the glens of Antrim if that came to pass.

Probably unlikely but the great certainty of sport is its uncertainty.

MASSIVE BATTLE

Back to Ballyhale and Ballygunner, it lived up to expectations in so far as it was a massive battle all the way through for superiority.

They could not be separated in the opening half, 0-11 apiece but at this level and despite last season's outcome, Ballyhale are more experienced at this level of the game and it showed.

Their resources are limited enough and in the Leinster final against Kilmacud Crokes they used no subs.

This time they brought in three and all three made a difference.

TJ Reid showed again why he is one of the best forwards ever to grace this great game.

After being denied by the outstanding Stephen O'Keeffe for the first penalty, a lesser man might have shied away from taking the second one but not this fellow, up he came again to drill home the goal, the game's defining score.

In the World Cup final the French player Mbappe scored a hat-trick and still ended up on the losing side.

In Croke Park last Sunday Ballygunner custodian O'Keeffe made some of the finest saves the old ground has ever witnessed and he too ended up on the losing side, sport in all its cruelty.

What a boost it would be for Davy Fitz and Waterford if he decided to end his self-imposed retirement from the inter-county game. The calls for that to happen will surely intensify because this guy is one of the very best in the business and has been for some time.

Ballyhale obviously used the pain of last season's defeat to act as their prime motivating force, they had endured that pain for 12 months and last Sunday the latest operation was a success.

Ballyhale were defiant, particularly in defence, they were mentally prepared for anything that Ballygunner had to offer.

They had seven different players scoring just one point each but each one of them was a precious score on a day they simply refused to yield.

It's not the first time that games in this club championship have surpassed what we saw on the inter-county stage.

On the Sunday before Christmas Day, the game of hurling was again exhibited in all its finery.

And what about our own Ballygiblin, they are heading back to the Big House again in a few weeks for another tilt at All-Ireland glory.

For a small club in North Cork, that is some achievement and it takes some doing.

Ronan Dwane continues to do a superb job with the players he has at his disposal.

They have obviously stored the hurt from the loss to Mooncoin last season and are channeling that effectively to make amends this time.