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\nPauric Mahony celebrates after the 2022 All-Ireland final<\/p>\n
Ballygunner have been such a perennial contender in the latter stages of the club championship that it’s mildly surprising to recall that this is only their second All-Ireland final appearance.<\/p>\n
In the past decade, watching the black and red jerseys buzz around Thurles or the Gaelic Grounds on a dark Sunday afternoon on TG4 has become a staple of mid-winter.<\/p>\n
The city club have established total dominance over the previously competitive Waterford championship, such that their rivals may be in danger of losing heart.<\/p>\n
The latest county final win, in which they racked up 2-35 against Austin Gleeson’s Mount Sion, was their 12th on the trot.<\/p>\n
Of those 12 county deciders, only four were won by single-digit margins, and the most recent of those, in 2021 and 2019, were both nine-point games.<\/p>\n
Their narrowest final victory across the entire spell was a four-point victory over Tallow in 2015.<\/p>\n
Outside the county, they’ve been the bane of the Limerick SHC winners, eliminating them seven years in a row – ironic given the compexion of the county game in that time – a run which continued against Na Piarsaigh late last year.<\/p>\n
This season brought a sixth Munster SHC crown overall and a fifth of the present era.<\/p>\n
Since Harry Ruddle lashed home the famous last-gasp winning goal to win their first and only All-Ireland title in 2022, they’ve usually been installed as All-Ireland favourites before the starting gun is fired on the provincial club championships.<\/p>\n
\nPauric Mahony celebrates after the 2022 All-Ireland final<\/p>\n
Through one thing and another, they’ve tended to get tripped up along the way.<\/p>\n
Ballyhale Shamrocks gained revenge against them in the 2022-23 All-Ireland semi-final – a match which may have suffered in the public memory due to clashing with the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar.<\/p>\n
The 2023-24 campaign, when they looked at their most imperious with Ballyhale out of the equation, was derailed by a penalty shootout loss to St Thomas’.<\/p>\n
Last year, they were caught cold in the Munster decider by Sarsfields while the general election count was still ongoing.<\/p>\n
A narrative may be growing that one All-Ireland title may be selling this generation of players short. They get another chance to add to that this weekend.<\/p>\n
“That hasn’t been discussed within this group anyways,” Pauric Mahony tells RT\u00c9 Sport. “It might be an outside perception.<\/p>\n
“Maybe people in Ballygunner might say that. But for us [within the team] it’s about maximising every game we play.<\/p>\n
“We can’t go back and play games that have happened two or three years ago. We have a game this weekend, that’s what our focus is on.<\/p>\n
“Maybe in time, we might look back and say, ‘Jesus, we over-achieved or we under-achieved'”<\/p>\n
“It’s not about ‘have you won one All-Ireland or two All-Irelands or 10 All-Irelands’, it’s the All-Ireland that’s in front of you.<\/p>\n
“Maybe in time, we might look back and say, ‘Jesus, we over-achieved or we under-achieved’. But while we’re still playing, it’s about the future and what’s ahead of us.”<\/p>\n
After the jolt of the Munster title defeat last year, they look especially tuned in for 2025-26, from the cricket score in the Waterford final, to the ease with which they ran roughshod over Eire \u00d3g in the Munster final.<\/p>\n
The semi-final against St Martin’s looked dicey<\/a> at half-time until Ballygunner cranked up the pace in the second half.<\/p>\n One of the more novel dimensions this year is Jason Ryan’s involvement as manager.<\/p>\n
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