Stephen O'Keefee pulled off some stunning saves in big moments as his Ballygunner side won their ninth consecutive Waterford Senior Hurling Championship title with victory over Mount Sion.
Ballygunner won 2-11 to 0-8 at a rain-soaked Walsh Park on Sunday to equal the nine-in-a-row feats of Erin's Own and Mount Sion.
Mount Sion - who were down two points to no score - were awarded a penalty in the 15th minute. Austin Gleeson struck the dead ball well, but a stretching O'Keeffe saved superbly from the 2016 Hurler of the Year.
"No, I've never done that for anybody," Man of the Match O'Keeffe told TG4 when asked if he'd studied Gleeson's tendencies when it comes to penalties.
"It's not because I don't respect how good they are as penalty takers. It's just that I'd be killing myself if I guessed one way and they put it the other, and it wasn't a great penalty. I'd be thinking that I could have saved that if I'd just watched the ball.
"I just watch the ball, react as quick as I can, and thankfully I got to this one. I know Aussie scored one on me last year. It's 50/50 at this stage."
Ballygunner 'won't shy away' from history
11 September 2022; Ballygunner goalkeeper Stephen O'Keeffe saves a penelty from Austin Gleeson, 14, of Mount Sion during the Waterford County Senior Hurling Championship Final match between Mount Sion and Ballygunner at Walsh Park in Waterford. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
O'Keeffe also made an excellent save at the beginning of the second half from Alan Kirwan.
"That was just pure instinct," he said.
"There wasn't much time to see the ball. As a team, we knew before the match and at half-time that the team which scored the most goals would have a great chance of winning the game, just with the conditions out there. Thankfully, we managed to get two, and managed to keep it clean at the back, which put us well on our way."
O'Keeffe said Ballygunner looked at weather conditions, like those prevailing on Sunday, as an opportunity.
"We love, as a team, when the weather is like this," he said.
"It's a chance for ourselves to prove that we're able to play in these types of conditions because one of the criticisms that's always levelled at us is that we're great on a sunny day with short passing, but if we got into a wet, muddy battle, we wouldn't be able to hack the pace.
"We showed out there today that we have that in the locker, which is good going forward. October, November, it's not the nicest of ground to be playing on."
It's just seven months since Ballygunner stunned Ballyhale Shamrocks with a late goal by Harry Ruddle to win the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship title.
"I don't know how far we can go, but I can promise you the appetite is certainly there," said O'Keeffe.
"As soon as we regrouped, there's competition for places. Internally, that's driving it. We have a very good group of players, very focused, very committed to achieving as much as we can, while we can. We're not naive, we know these things won't last forever. We have to make hay while the sun is shining.
"Maybe it'll sink in over the next day or two that we're after equalling a nine-in-a-row record. It's a privilege to say I'm on the team that's done it, it's a bit of history made. We won't shy away from that, we're very proud of that, 100 per cent."
This penalty save by Stephen O'Keeffe to deny Austin Gleeson was superb!pic.twitter.com/rRQOGaABIr
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) September 11, 2022
See Also: Dublin's Bastick Sees Red Moments After Coming On In All-Ireland Final
