Two outrageous Austin Gleeson catches and a last gasp Adam Regan winner saw Mount Sion pip city rivals Roanmore in a grandstand finish to Sunday’s first Waterford SHC semi-final. In a bad-tempered affair, both teams finished with fourteen men as Luke O’Brien and Frank McGrath received straight red cards.

Roanmore led by a point entering injury time before Gleeson moved from defence to attack. On 62 minutes, the 2016 Hurler of the Year grabbed the ball out of the air and, running towards the open stand sideline, struck over a stunning equaliser off his right side. As the clock ticked into the fourth added minute, Gleeson fetched a PJ Fanning free and offloaded to Regan who won it with the very last puck.

An out of breath Gleeson got a big hug from Tony Browne as he described his late heroics. “To be honest, I was a bit out on my feet! The one over on the sideline, it was a hit and hope! Thankfully, it went over. I knew I was just about to be blown for steps for the other one so I popped it out to ‘Rego’ and ‘Rego’ did the rest.”

The Monastery men nearly got knocked out by Clonea the week before. “I felt we owed ourselves a performance after last week. That’s no disrespect to Clonea. We shouldn’t be here; Clonea should have beat us. But we’re here. The resilience we showed after going down to 14 men was absolutely incredible. We just never gave up.”

The exchanges were hot and heavy right from the off. Adam Regan struck first for wind assisted Sion. Ethan Flynn replied with a fabulous run and a fabulous finish. As the heavens opened, Sion goalkeeper Ian O’Regan found an unmarked Regan from a puckout and he picked out Jamie Meaney who lashed home. Sion led 1-2 to 0-2 in the 11th minute when Luke O’Brien was sent off for what referee Thomas Walsh deemed as a striking offence on Cian Wadding. The 14 men upped their intensity and delivered the next three scores (two from Martin ‘Blondie’ O’Neill and one from Stephen Roche) to open a six point gap.

Back to back points from Cork native Brian Everard revived Roanmore. Brian Nolan then intercepted an Austin Gleeson pass and split the posts. Sion defender Stephen O’Neill saw yellow for a high tackle on Shane Mackey. It could have been red. Gavin O’Brien tapped over the subsequent free to trim the deficit to one. Three frees from O’Neill, including a monster effort in injury time, sent Sion 1-8 to 0-7 ahead at the break.

Roanmore midfielder Sean Burke got one back immediately off the throw-in. The tackles continued to fly in. Stephen O’Neill escaped a second yellow for a pull on Paul O’Sullivan and O’Brien did the rest. Conor Ryan was yellow carded for a foul on Austin Gleeson.

Martin O’Neill and Jamie Gleeson restored Sion’s four-point advantage. Roanmore exploited the extra man and points from O’Sullivan, Billy Nolan, Brian Nolan and Rory Furlong levelled matters entering the last quarter (1-10 to 0-13).

With eight minutes left, Roanmore defender Frank McGrath received a straight red for a shoulder to the head of Jamie Meaney. O’Neill made it 1-12 to 0-13 from the free. Billy Nolan replied with a massive point from his own 45. O’Neill put two between them again with his tenth point. Two O’Brien frees and a Shane Mackey single snuck Roanmore back in front before those two Austin Gleeson catches saved the day for Sion.

Scorers for Mount Sion: Martin O’Neill 0-10 (7fs, 1 65), J Meaney 1-0, A Regan 0-2, A Gleeson, J Gleeson, S Roche 0-1 each.

Scorers for Roanmore: G O’Brien 0-6 (5fs, 1 65), Billy Nolan, Brian Nolan, B Everard 0-2 each, S Mackey, P O’Sullivan, R Furlong, S Burke, E Flynn 0-1 each.

MOUNT SION: I O’Regan, B Flanagan, S O’Neill, M Daykin; G Power, A Gleeson, L O’Brien; D Power, PJ Fanning; Martin O’Neill, J Gleeson, A Regan; J Meaney, S Roche, J Kennedy.

Subs: Martin F O’Neill for D Power (HT), B Frisby for S O’Neill (40), E Curran for Kennedy (46), A Kirwan for Meaney (Blood, 53-54), E Adebayo for G Power (59).

ROANMORE: J Chester; F McGrath, C Chester, O Hartney; C Wadding, Billy Nolan, Brian Nolan; R Furlong, S Burke; G O’Brien, S Mackey, E Flynn; C Ryan, P O’Sullivan, B Everard.

Subs: C Carroll for Everard (42), L Hearne for O’Brien (Blood, 47- 49), L Hearne for O’Sullivan (53), E Hayes for Flynn (60).

Referee: T Walsh (Modeligo)