Ballyduff come close

THEY don’t always make it easy for themselves in Ballyduff, that’s for sure.

In 2017 alone they had to strike back from difficult positions to get over the line against both Causeway in a County Championship quarter-final and do something similar against Kilmoyley in the semi-final.

To win a championship you need that sort of indefatigability, but at the same time you’re putting yourself under severe pressure. It puts you in the type of position where sooner rather than later you’re going to give yourself too much to do.

That day came for Ballyduff in the Munster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship semi-final against Cork kingpins Kanturk. In the thirteen minutes of the game they found themselves completely out-gunned by the Cork champions, going down to a eight-nil deficit.

It says something about Ballyduff’s bottle that they didn’t crack after this. As a matter of fact a minute after Kanturk stretched their advantage to eight Pádraig Boyle had the ball in the back of Anthony Nash’s net and a minute after that again had the ball over the bar – cutting Kanturk’s advantage in two. The comeback was on.

So much so that coming into the final minutes they’d even opened out a lead, but Kanturk and Ian Walsh struck back to take the winning goal. Heartbreak for Ballyduff after a really bold comeback. The wait goes on. It finished 1-20 to 2-12.