Ballygunner defeated Mount Sion in the Waterford senior hurling final at Walsh Park amid disgraceful scenes that saw the final 10 minutes of play reduced to little better than a running brawl involving players and spectators.
In those final minutes a running skirmish took place up and down the sideline opposite the stand. It appeared to have been prompted by a heavy tackle on the Ballygunner goalkeeper Ray Whitty as he came off his line to clear a ball.
Players, officials, mentors and spectators were involved in a debacle that dismayed most observers. A Garda inspector and a sergeant who were on that side of the field, near the entrance to the players' tunnel, immediately intervened and separated several of the players.
Some players were fighting, while other players were trying to separate their colleagues, as were officials. The presence of mentors and spectators added greatly to the confusion.
Last night a spokesperson for the Garda Siochana said they had been contacted by the GAA about crowd control for the game and there were nine officers in close proximity to the ground. No request had been made for gardai to be present in the venue itself, but the inspector and sergeant took it on themselves to be present.
Referee John Hunt sent off a player from each side, Paul Power and Eoin McGrath, following the disturbance.
Mount Sion's Roy McGrath had also been sent off, following an off-the-ball incident, on 37 minutes. During the presentation ceremony the county chairman, Paddy Joe Ryan said he was annoyed and upset at what had occurred at the end of the game. He told the crowd the county board would investigate the matter fully and promised that "nothing would be swept under the carpet".
In the game itself, Ballygunner led by 1-7 to 1-5 at half-time, Ballygunner's goal coming from a 20-metre free by Paul Flynn in the eighth minute after Mount Sion full back Brian Flannery had hauled down Darragh O'Sullivan.
Eoin Kelly scored Mount Sion's goal three minutes before the break, when he latched onto a long ball from Ken McGrath.
Padraig Fanning gave Mount Sion a one-point lead in the 37th minute with an excellent goal from a difficult angle; but while that was going on his colleague Roy McGrath was involved in the off-the-ball incident for which he was sent off. The champions never recovered their composure after that and Ballygunner opened a four-point gap by the 38th minute. Mount Sion did manage to reduce the deficit to two points with five minutes of normal time remaining, but Ballygunner shifted up a gear to move away again with two points in quick succession from Michael Mahony.
On the hour Ken McGrath pointed for Mount Sion to leave three points between the sides, 115 to 2-10. But when Tony Carroll pointed for Ballygunner a minute later to restore a four-point lead, most people believed it was time for the referee to blow the final whistle.
The game was bad tempered throughout and peppered with a number of skirmishes involving groups of players. For the most part it mainly consisted of pushing and shoving with no serious injuries; but the final 10 minutes were pure chaos.
There had been quite a few stoppages and the referee decided to play on and the second half eventually lasted for 40 minutes and 26 seconds. During that time Paul Flynn added a further point to extend the eventual winning margin to five points.
BALLYGUNNER: R Whitty; N O'Donnell, N Warren, A Kirwan (0-1); S Frampton, F Hartley, R O'Sullivan; T Fives, P Power (0-1); C Kehoe, M Mahony (0-4), A Carroll (0-2); W O'Sullivan (0-2), D O'Sullivan, P Flynn (1-8). Sub: S Lyons for Kehoe (38 mins).
MOUNT SION: P Flynn; J CLeere, B Flannery, K O'Connor; R McGrath, G Harris, K O'Neill; G Gater, T Browne; E Kelly (1-0), K McGrath (0-4), O McGrath; J Meaney, A Kirwan, B Brown (0-6). Subs: P Fanning (1-0) for Meaney (24 mins), D Acheson for Gater (44 mins).
Referee: J Hunt (Clonea).
