Gusserane hail hurling success
THE GUSSERANE Junior ‘B’ team of 1979 which defeated St. Martin’s by 1-8 to 1-7 to bring the first-ever adult hurling title to the club gathered for a reunion in Power’s Bar in Ballycullane on Friday, with the Bob O’Keeffe Cup in attendance.
The final was played in Wexford Park on November 18, and the team was backboned by many players who had won a Senior football title four years earlier.
Gusserane had beaten Clongeen and Bannow-Ballymitty in the earlier rounds in the District, and a remarkable aspect of their outright success was that their last three victories were all by one-point margins.
First up they defeated the Fethard first team, who would succeed them as county champions, in the New Ross final in O’Kennedy Park on October 14 by 1-8 to 0-10, a game refereed by Adamstown’s Matt O’Neill who was one of the over-90s honoured at the Seana Ghael function last Sunday.
Next up for Gusserane were Duffry Rovers in the county semi-final, at the same venue on November 4, and there was a similar outcome as they advanced to the decider on a 2-6 to 2-5 scoreline, with Tommy Rowe manning the whistle on that occasion.
An interesting aspect of the final was that their rivals, St. Martin’s, had lost the 1978 showpiece earlier that summer.
Their meeting with HWH-Bunclody had been postponed on several occasions before finally going ahead on July 30, 1979, in Bellefield when the Enniscorthy District outfit prevailed by 2-3 to 1-2.
That left the men in maroon all the more determined to succeed, and they beat Blackwater (5-11 to 0-5), St. Mary’s, Rosslare (0-10 to 2-2) and Faythe Harriers (2-10 to 1-6) to retain the Wexford District crown.
Ferns St. Aidan’s were duly dispatched by 4-12 to 0-5 in the county semi-final, but the tougher passage Gusserane had faced clearly stood to them as they made hurling history on that memorable November day.
Team manager Davy Nolan and Seán Myers have since passed on their eternal rewards, but they were fondly remembered by their former colleagues on Friday as the stories and recollections flowed from an important breakthrough for the club.
Gusserane: John Egan; Kevin O’Grady, Mick Culleton, John Fitzharris; Peter Culleton, Mick Caulfield, Pat Caulfield; Seamus Cullen, Liam Fardy; Brendan Browne, Luke Power, John Culleton; Johnny Browne, Paddy Colfer, Brendan Duffin. Subs. - Seán Myers (used), also John Joe Murphy, Pat Kehoe, Brendan Colfer, Willie Culleton, Joe Nolan.
St. Martin’s: Brian Dempsey; Brendan Benson, Francis Maddock, Nick Frayne; Noel Kelly, John Devereux, Billy Esmonde; Larry Duggan, Joe Scott; Paddy Mahony, Seán Dempsey, Johnny Guiton; Danny Goff, Jim O’Mahoney, Stanley McDonald. Subs. used – Liam Butler, Mylie Cousins.
Referee: Jack O’Brien (Buffers Alley).