The home side, playing the traditional Irish sport before a large vocal crowd at the Queenstown Rec Ground, won the ‘Clash of the Ash’ 7-19 to 5-11.
"It was a massive scoreline but it was a great game to watch," Queenstown Hurling founder Declan ‘Diesel’ Malone says, "because hurling, in the space of five minutes, it could turn."
He believes six hours’ travelling to Christchurch took it out of his team in the previous game last year.
Accounting for the win, he says "the [lack of] travel helped out and just having the boys motivated, getting the buzz on, we had the right people, the right boys".
"To get this kind of win is pretty good after three years of getting beat."
The Ian Flanagan Cup is named after a local Irishman who died suddenly in 2022.
He was a cousin of Queenstown Hurling captain Niall Quinn, who was originally down to present the cup, "so we had to change it up a wee bit", Malone says.
Instead, the cup was presented to Quinn by Ian Flanagan’s sister Alice Flanagan, who’s over here on holiday.
