The last week is one that Reuben Halloran won't forget in a hurry. It all started on New Years Eve when De La Salle dethroned the holders Ballygunners to lift the Eastern Under-20 title (0-14 to 0-13) in Dunhill with Halloran shooting eleven points as the Gracedieu side edged home by the narrowest of margins.
FULL TIME IN DUNHILL
De La Salle turn it around in the second half to be crowned @EastDeiseGAA U20 A Champions!
Final Score:@ballygunnerHc 0-13@DLSGAA 0-14 pic.twitter.com/qw1pHLCxGX— Clubber (@clubber) December 31, 2022
On Tuesday last (January 3rd), Halloran made his senior inter-county debut for the Waterford hurlers in the Munster hurling league opener against Tipperary in Mallow. He shot seven points from placed balls as the Déise got the Davy Fitzgerald era off to a winning start with a hard fought win (0-21 to 1-15).
Sunday afternoon last saw Fraher Field host the County Under-20 "A" Hurling Final where Halloran lit up this decider accounting for all of his teams scores in their hard earned 1-14 to 0-13 victory over Abbeyside after a tense battle. Speaking on Monday evening's "On The Ball", Reuben Halloran admitted it's a display he won't forget; "I would probably put it up there as the best display I had, not many days I can say I scored 1-14 and not anyone else scoring but I was kind of expecting going into the game that one or two fellas would get a point here or there like usual but I wasn't expecting to get it all". He nailed 1-1 from play, 11 frees and two 65's in a man of the match display, a real tour de force.
Congratulations to @DLSGAA County Under 20 A Hurling Champions. Pictured here is County Board Chairman Sean M O'Regan presenting the cup to De La Salle Captain Reuben Halloran, who was also named man of the match. pic.twitter.com/aZzDGbENvn
— Waterford GAA (@WaterfordGAA) January 8, 2023
Reuben is delighted to be back hurling with huge confidence having missed a lot of 2022 due to injury; "Yeah thankfully, I tore the hamstring at the start of the year and it was kind of a bit of a loss just for myself, hurling is obviously everything that I've known my whole life and I missed out on an important Championship with the Waterford Under-20's. I kind of got back slowly but gradually and I was lucky enough to be back a couple of weeks early which I wasn't expecting, I was expected to miss all of the (Senior) Championship with the club which I was disheartened with and the mangers were really disheartened to hear it but thankfully the work with the physios I did over the couple of months, it really stood to me and thankfully I'm still here touch wood at the moment".
It caps off a good 2022 season for 'Salle who also captured the Minor "A" hurling title last September with victory over Ballygunner and Halloran told WLR Sport it's a brilliant time to be involved; "Great few weeks for the club, most of the lads younger than me now are used to winning but all the lads up the age, we were kind of struggling to do the job our own age and thankfully when Ian (Flynn), 'Bull' Phelan and Peter Hearne helped us out a bit, they kind of set us all straight and they gave us that winning mentality that we needed".
He's also enjoying life with the Waterford senior set-up at the moment under new manager Davy Fitzgerald and his management team; "It's very good, the atmosphere is good around the place, keen to learn even more what I've already learned from him, it's just good to be about learning from the older players, more experienced in there".
The Déise are back in action this Sunday when they travel to Ennis to face Clare in the final round of the Munster hurling league (1:30pm throw-in in Cusack Park). A win or a draw would be enough for Davy Fitzgerald's side to qualify the Munster league final which is pencilled in for January 22nd.
