Paddy Buggy Cup final preview – St Killian’s Garron Tower v Blackwater CS Waterford
How Blackwater CS got there
St Killian’s final opponents on Saturday are Blackwater Community School of Lismore, Co Waterford, who beat Banagher College from Offaly in the All Ireland semi final. Conditions were not good for that game in Johnstown, Co Kilkenny and the physical strength of the Waterford boys proved a decisive factor on a heavy pitch.
In a low scoring game, the Waterford side showed greater sharpness in the second half to edge away from their opponents and claim their place in Saturday’s All-Ireland final against the Ulster champions.
While St Killian’s and Portumna were scoring highly on the astroturf at Darvar, Co Louth in their semi-final, Blackwater and Banagher were slogging it out in conditions that were not suitable for hurling. The weather the previous day had left the pitch very soft and then a diagonal crossfield wind made things even more difficult. There was torrential rain in the ten minutes up to half time which made any kind of fluent hurling almost impossible and it was no surprise that scores were scarce in that opening period, which ended 0-4 to 0-3 in favour of Blackwater.
Banagher College had to line out without their captain Shane Rigney, following his red card in the Leinster Final, and his absence was certainly felt by the Leinster champions. They played into the diagonal wind in the first half and weathered the first half storm – literally – to trail by only a point at half time and they looked to be in a reasonably good position at that stage.
However they struggled to get productive ball into their forward line in the second half as Blackwater began to take control of the game. Three unanswered points increased their lead to four 12 minutes into the half but Banagher then got a lifeline with the game’s only goal midway through the half to leave just a point in it. However they were unable to build on that and although a point still separated them going into injury time, three quick points for Blackwater were enough to seal their place in the decider against the Tower.
Blackwater midfielder Joseph O’Keefe was the best player on the field that day. From the very start he had an impact, scoring the first point of the game, and he continued to contribute strongly around the middle of the park, winning valuable possession and driving forward at the Banagher defence. He was the only player on the field to score more than once from play.
There was only a point between the sides at the interval but Blackwater played much more cohesively after the break. The attacked well, using a short passing game very effectively and that led to a number of their second half points. Joint captain O’Keefe led the way for them from midfield and was their most influential player from the very start, contributing three points from play.
BLACKWATER CS LISMORE: Billy Murphy; Jack Twomey, Tomas Ahern, Conor Lynch; Tadhg Duffin, Jake Henley, Joseph McDonnell; Callum McCarthy, Joseph O’Keefe; Charlie Lineen, Adam Cummins, James Hickey; Ben O’Sullivan, Ben Cummins, Stephen Murphy. Subs. Shane Barry (for Stephen Murphy, 33 mins), Conor Henley (for James Hickey, 66 mins).
Blackwater CS scorers; Ben Cummins (0-5, 0-4 frees), Joseph O’Keefe (0-3), Adam Cummins, Tadhg Duffin, James Hickey (0-1 each)
Blackwater Community School 1-19 High School Clonmel 1-14
In a high scoring provincial decider a goal and ten points from full forward Ben Cummins helped Blackwater Community School to an historic Munster final win over High School Clonmel on the astroturf at Fethard, Co. Tipperary
It was nip for tuck for the opening 10 minutes with Fourmilewater and Waterford under-20 county duo Evan Spellman and Michael Morrisey leading the fight for the high school while Cummins was tapping over the frees for Blackwater.
Perhaps the decisive moment of the game came in the 12th minute, when centre-back Jamie O’Keefe let the ball slip out of his hand from a Blackwater clearance. Adam Cummins pounced on the mistake and ran through the heart of the Clonmel defence before laying the ball off to Ben Cummins, who rattled it into the net to leave the Lismore school leading 1-5 to 0-3.
The goal left the Clonmel boys chasing for the rest of the game, but to their credit, they stayed battling and only trailed by four going into halftime, 1-9 to 0-8.
The deficit was back to three in the 41st minute when sub-Mikey McGuire kicked the sliotar into the back of the net after James Powers’ shot was initially saved to give the Clonmel school a lifeline of 1-13 to 1-10.
However, that was the closest the Clonmel school would get as joint captains Joseph O’Keefe and Ben O’Sullivan upped the gears for Blackwater as they scored the next five points before Cummins finished the scoring with a free-to-secure a famous win.
Scorers for Blackwater: Ben Cummins 1-10 (0-9 frees), Ben O’Sullivan (0-4), Joseph O’Keefe (0-3), Shane Barry (0-2)
Scorers for High School: Evan Spelman 0-8 (0-7 frees), Michael Morrisey (0-5 ), Mikey McGuire (1-0), Adam Cagney 0-1 (0-1 65)
Blackwater Community School Lismore (All Waterford): Billy Murphy (Cois Bhride); Jack Twomey (Cappoquin/Affane), Tomas Ahern (Ballyduff Upper), Conor Lynch (St Oliver’s); Tadhg Duffin (Lismore), Jake Henley (Cois Bhride), Shane Barry (Lismore); Joseph McDonnell (Cois Bhride), Joseph O’Keefe (Lismore); Charlie Lineen (Lismore), Adam Cummins (Lismore), James Hickey (Naomh Brid/ Modeligo); Stephen Murphy (Cois Bhride), Ben Cummins (Lismore), Ben O’Sullivan (Lismore).
Subs: Killian English (Ballyduff Upper) for Hickey (54 mins), Aidan Murphy (Cois Bhride) (60 mins).