Mooncoin edge Ballygiblin to take junior hurling crown

Mooncoin (Kilkenny) 0-22 v Ballygiblin (Cork) 1-18

Five years on from the heartbreak of losing the 2017 final of the same competition, Mooncoin are finally All-Ireland junior hurling champions after edging Cork side Ballygiblin by a point at Croke Park.

Having trailed at the break, corner forward Killian Hogan roared into life in the second half with four points, Martin O'Neill was a colossus at right half back and his sideline cut that whizzed over the bar at the finish blew the rafters at the Jones' Road venue.

That previous final loss was the extra motivating factor and the hurt was visible in Mooncoin's play throughout, having the upperhand when needed. Ballygiblin’s reliance on free’s in the second half from the deadly accurate Joseph O’Sullivan wasn’t to be enough to overturn the Kilkenny side.

Dual star Darragh Flynn scorched over the opening point of the game after Mooncoin’s full back Cormac Daly was turned over in the first buds of a great battle with his man Seán O’Sullivan.

Having been here before Mooncoin sensed the importance of getting a good start, one of four players who started the previous final, John Fitzgerald, was quick to settle his side's nerves with a brace of booming points.

The first half then went with waves of dominance from both sides. Mooncoin’s period came first through their impressive full forward Patrick Walsh. Walsh fired over a long range free and in the next play whipped over an excellent score. Wing forward Kevin Crowley pushed Willie Coogan’s side 0-06 to 0-02 ahead at that stage.

Former AFL star Mark Keane was the focus of many before the game and his potential lived up the billing as his presence was the central to Ballygiblin’s good passages of play in the first half. O’Sullivan