Fourmilewater staged a remarkable second-half comeback to defeat Abbeyside/Ballinacourty by 0-27 to 3-15 in last night’s Waterford SHC preliminary quarter-final at Cappoquin Logistics Fraher Field.

Trailing by ten at one point, Fourmilewater roared back with Sean Walsh hitting seven points from play and Jamie Barron adding five.

Manager Richard O’Keeffe credited his side’s resilience and work rate for the turnaround.

“One thing we’ve known from these boys from the start of the year is that they’ve a never say die attitude with them,” O’Keeffe said. “We just went back to principles, back to basics – sharp balls out, running off the shoulder, giving the ball to the man in the best position and putting it over the bar.”

O’Keeffe highlighted the influence of Walsh, who recently returned from a stint in the US.

“Sean brought his county form back into the club,” he said. “Everyone knows the kind of hurler he is – on his day, he’s unplayable really. But it was way more than just Sean, the quality of the ball he was getting in the second half was fantastic.”

Abbeyside, missing key players through injury, still carried a threat, with O’Keeffe singling out sharpshooter Michael Kiely. Kiely hit 2-5 on the night.

“We knew Michael Kiely was always going to be a threat. He’s definitely a goal machine and he proved that again today,” he said.

Looking ahead to next week’s quarter-final against Roanmore, O’Keeffe struck a cautious but optimistic note.

“The way we played in the second half will give us fantastic encouragement,” he said. “But we’re under no illusion. Roanmore beat us by 33 points in the league. Not getting Ballygunner at this stage is a positive, but we won’t take anything for granted.”

“To be honest, we were absolutely relieved to get over the line,” O’Keeffe admitted. “The losers were into a relegation battle, and that’s not where anyone wants to be.”

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