This is what total dominance looks like, all black and red hoops and silverware everywhere. The kids in Ballygunner’s juvenile section cannot remember a season when the club’s senior hurlers did not return to the parish with all the loot.
On Sunday they won a 10th consecutive Waterford senior hurling championship. The level of their success is unprecedented in the county. They last lost a championship match in 2013, 55 matches and counting.
Dessie Hutchinson hasn’t suffered championship defeat since returning from England in 2019. He missed the first five titles during this incredible journey, but he has been central to part two of what continues to be a glorious chapter in Ballygunner’s history.
“It really means something special,” says Hutchinson, who left behind a professional soccer career in England to return home in 2019.
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“It’s an incredible achievement. It’s my fifth, but some lads like Shane O’Sullivan, what can I say, he keeps producing year after year. All the lads in that dressingroom, players and management, are an absolute credit to themselves because they give their life and soul to this team.
“I couldn’t have dreamt of it [when I came home]. Obviously, I wanted to play senior hurling with Ballygunner but to not lose a [county SHC] game yet, it’s absolutely unbelievable. Look, this isn’t going to last forever and you just have to make the most of it while it’s here and with this bunch of special people.”
Evan Ferguson might be the latest Irishman making waves with Brighton & Hove Albion, but Hutchinson was also on the books with the Seagulls before eventually returning to Waterford.
On Sunday at Walsh Park the former Ireland under-19 player scored 0-3 as Ballygunner swatted De La Salle away, 2-26 to 0-21.
“It’s something we probably pride ourselves on, keeping the scoreboard ticking over through games and we actually left a bit out there too,” says Hutchinson.
“To score 2-26 for a county final in unbelievable but there are going to be bigger challenges.”
The next hurdle for Ballygunner will be a Munster club senior hurling championship quarter-final on the first weekend in November, against the eventual Cork champions. Should Ballygunner retain the provincial club crown, they would become the first side to win three Munster titles in-a-row. And they would join Blackrock on top of the roll of honour with five triumphs.
Beyond that, of course, is the possibility of getting back to an All-Ireland club final. The 2022 club champions were beaten at the semi-final stage by Kilkenny’s Ballyhale Shamrocks last December, 1-16 to 0-16.
“Looking back at that performance, it was nowhere near good enough,” says Hutchinson. “Ballyhale were much the better team that day. Look, maybe a few things could have gone for us but they didn’t.
“Ultimately, only for SOK in goal that could have been a six or seven-point game. We know we have a lot of work to do before we can even dream of getting back to an All-Ireland semi-final.
“In terms of the break, a couple of us will go off and play football for a couple of weeks and see how that goes. Look, we’ve been through all this before the last few years so we know what to expect.”
The foundations these Ballygunner players have been laying for a decade now are sure to set the club up for a solid future. There is now a recognised culture of winning and sustained success within the club.
“You just have to look around the community and everybody is rowing in behind the hurling club,” adds Hutchinson. “The school is doing massive work as well, which is great.
“Literally, everyone from our under-8s to our senior team are doing the exact same thing. We pride ourselves in how we behave on and off the pitch and giving these young lads something to aspire to, I suppose.
“A lot of people talk about numbers and all this craic, but nobody’s putting in the work like we are up in the field and that’s the difference.
“We’ve had largely the same group of players here the last I don’t know how many years, there are a couple of young lads coming in every year from minor teams, of course, like every other team, but we’re putting in harder work than everybody else.
“We’ve talked about how lucky we are to be in the group and to keep winning like that and creating memories, it’s just incredible. There are no other words to describe it, really.”
