Ballygunner joint-captain and goalkeeper Stephen O’Keeffe says yesterday's Munster club SHC final triumph makes up for the many disappointments the club has suffered at provincial level in recent years.

The five-in-a-row Waterford champions avenged last year's provincial final loss to Na Piarsaigh with an impressive 2-14 to 2-8 victory at Semple Stadium yesterday to claim their first Munster title since 2001.

“Now that we’ve finally got there, and given all the heartbreak we had a few years ago, it makes it a bit sweeter," O'Keeffe told the Irish Examiner.

"It’s very hard to put it into words. You work so hard and you get your heart broken. You come back again and you get so close and you get your heart broken again.

“To finally get up the steps, it’s the proudest moment I’ve had on a hurling pitch.”

He added: “Finally we’re after getting to where we want to go. I think we maybe pointed to last year that we got a goal to bring it to within a point in 59 minutes and then Na Piarsaigh had that extra gear, that bit of experience. They kind of steamrolled us in injury-time to win by eight points.

“I remember very well because I was standing over there bawling my eyes out. Just to actually get here and to get up the steps, it’s indescribable.”

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