The 1959 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final took place on 6 September 1959 at
Croke Park,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
. It was the 72nd All-Ireland final and was contested by
Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
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and
Kilkenny.
The match ended level. This was the last All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final at the end of which the teams finished level until
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
.
The first game ended level with a score of 1-17 to 5-5. A replay took place at the same venue four weeks later on 4 October 1959. On that occasion the Leinster champions lost to their Munster opponents on a score line of 3-12 to 1-10.
This was Waterford's second ever All-Ireland title. They have yet to win a third.
All-Ireland final
Overview
The All-Ireland senior hurling final saw Waterford lining out in only their fourth ever championship decider. They last played in the All-Ireland final two years earlier in 1957 when they were defeated by Kilkenny. Waterford last won the title in 1948 when they defeated
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
.
Match reports
Sunday 6 September was the date of the 1959 All-Ireland senior hurling final between Waterford and Kilkenny. The attendance of 73,707 was not disappointed and was treated to some splendid hurling by both teams in one of the great All-Ireland finals. An exciting first half of hurling saw Waterford take a five-point lead. Immediately after the restart
Tom Cheasty scored a memorable point after he stormed past five Kilkenny defenders who, according to
Radio Éireann
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
commentator
Michael O'Hehir
Michael James Hehir (also known as Michael O'Hehir and ga, Mícheál Ó hEithir; 2 June 1920 – 24 November 1996) was an Irish hurling, football and horse racing commentator and journalist. Between 1938 and 1985 his enthusiasm and memor ...
, fell around him ‘like dying wasps.’ Waterford were masters at pure hurling; however, the downside of this was that they found it difficult to close out games and win easily. This was a factor on this occasion against Kilkenny. Two quick goals by
Tommy O'Connell
Thomas B. O'Connell (September 26, 1930 – March 20, 2014) was an American collegiate and professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons. He played in 1953 for the Chicago Bears and in 1956 ...
put Kilkenny ahead by two goals with just a minute left in the game. With the score at 5-5 to 0-17 Waterford needed a goal. A stroke of luck saw ‘the Decies’ awarded a sideline cut. Team captain
Frankie Walsh
Frankie Walsh (1936 – 28 December 2012) was an Irish hurler who played as a left wing-forward at senior level for the Waterford county team.
Walsh made his first appearance for the team during the 1956 championship and was a regular member ...
stepped up to take it when he saw
Séamus Power bursting out of midfield with his hand raised looking for the sliothar. Walsh fluffed the sideline cut and the sliothar only went a few yards. However,
Larry Guinan
Larry Guinan (born 1938 in Waterford) is an Irish retired sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club Mount Sion and was a member of the Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
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was running forward and he collected the sliothar. He had only one thing in mind as he headed straight for the goalmouth. He fired in a shot that full-back
Jim ‘Link’ Walsh deflected past his goalkeeper
Ollie Walsh
Patrick Oliver Walsh (13 July 1937 – 9 March 1996) was an Irish hurler and hurling manager. His career included All-Ireland Championship victories as a player and later as a manager with the Kilkenny senior hurling team.
After beginning ...
. The final whistle blew immediately and the score line read Waterford 1-17, Kilkenny 5-5.
Four weeks later on 4 October 77,285 returned to Croke Park to see the second installment of the All-Ireland final between Waterford and Kilkenny. The second game began terribly for Waterford, in spite of playing with a strong wind, and they trailed by 1-4 to 0-1 after only twelve minutes of play. Frankie Walsh also had a torrid time as he failed to raise the sliothar for a close-in free. All of a sudden, however, Waterford clicked into gear.
Mick Flannelly
Michael Peter Flannelly (21 February 1930 – 11 September 2021) was an Irish hurler. At club level he played with Mount Sion and was also a member of the Waterford senior hurling team. Flannelly usually lined out as a forward.
Career
Flanne ...
, a player from the
Mount Sion club, goaled to get Waterford’s game back on track.
Tom Cunningham
Tom Cunningham is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Ellis Hollins. With Tom being a young child for most of his tenure, his early years featured minimal storylines, including the numerous death ...
added a second with a brilliant overhead strike before Tom Cheasty also goaled. After a disastrous start Waterford led by 3-6 to 1-8 at the interval. The second-half saw
Joe Harney
Joseph Harney (born 1936) is an Irish retired hurler who played as a right corner-back for club side Ballydurn and at inter-county level with the Waterford senior hurling team.
Honours
;Ballydurn
* Waterford Junior Hurling Championship (1): ...
and
Austin Flynn
Augustine P. Flynn (1933 – 26 April 2021), known as Austin Flynn, was an Irish hurler. As a player, he was noted in newspaper reports as a "fine hard-tackling but honest player" and "a sturdy sentry on the edge of the square." Flynn had a fif ...
excelling in defence, so much so that Kilkenny only scored two points from
Eddie Keher
Edward Peter Keher (; born 14 October 1941) is an Irish former hurler who played as a centre-forward at senior level for the Kilkenny county team.
Born in Inistioge, County Kilkenny, Keher first played competitive hurling whilst at school in ...
over the course of the thirty minutes. Waterford, on the other hand, forged ahead with Walsh and Cheasty excelling. After 120 minutes of hurling played out in front of an aggregate attendance of 150,000 Waterford took their second All-Ireland title by 3-12 to 1-10.
TV coverage
The match was recorded by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and highlights where shown in Sportsview on BBC television on the Wednesday following the final.
The commentary was done by
who is famous for the words “some people are on the pitch, they think its all over, it is now” at the end of the 1966 Association Football World Cup Final.