Anthony Daly: You'd want to have the stake driven through Ballyhale's hearts

Darragh Corcoran of Ballyhale Shamrocks celebrates after the All-Ireland Senior Club Championship semi-final win over St Thomas. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

The pain of losing an All-Ireland club semi-final cuts sharp and deep, but the hurt and devastation of losing to a last-second goal was etched in the contours and lines of the faces of the St Thomas’ players and their manager, Kenneth Burke, after yesterday’s heartbreaking defeat.

It’s always only hurling but, while we all understand that reality, acceptance never tranquilises the anguish in those circumstances. St Thomas’ were absolutely heroic. They fought and battled like warriors from the first minute to the last, but the tears that ran down their faces were only drops in the ocean of regret they’ll be swimming in for months.

We’ve all been there at some stage. There will be no escaping the pain because you torture yourself with a hundred different ‘what if’ scenarios, each one like another thrust of the dagger into your gut.

If Conor Cooney had driven that last-minute free wide — the one he landed from out near Holycross — Ballyhale would have gone hunting for the point to bring the match to extra time, and not the goal that won the game.

I don’t want to be critical of goalkeeper Gerald Kelly for coming out so far of his goal to face down TJ Reid’s free, but he was effectively running out past Colin Fennelly, who was acting as a screen in front of Kelly and the phalanx of defenders on the line. Why didn’t one of those defenders just try and shove Fennelly out of their line of sight? Why didn’t the keeper roar at one them to avert that danger?

Could Fintan Burke — who was immense — have let TJ play that last ball instead of fouling him, especially when everyone knows how deadly TJ is from placed balls? Stop. I just can’t imagine how torturous the fallout is going to be around Peterswell and Kilchreest in the coming days, weeks, and months.

Everyone will point to that last defining moment, but I felt the turning point was the penalty. Referee Rory McCann had a fine game, but I thought Fennelly conned him into awarding the penalty. John Headd looked to have grabbed Fennelly, possibly by the helmet, but, still, I thought it was a free-out first for barging.

You have to hand it to Ballyhale, but Thomas’ didn’t deserve to lose. They did everything right for 64 minutes, but we all know at this stage that Kilkenny teams are Dracula in disguise — you’d want to have the stake driven through their hearts with the blood gushing out their mouths before you have them buried.

Thomas’ still had them by the throat all day. Fennelly and Adrian Mullen weren’t really effective, but Evan Cody was excellent, and TJ was TJ. Thomas’s tackling was incredible, but if I had any criticism of the Galway side, I felt the longer the game went on, the less effective their long puckout strategy was, especially in the middle of the second half when they gave away so much possession.

Ballygunner were definitely the better team in the opening semi-final, but Slaughtneil will still have massive regrets too. Whatever about conceding the first early goal from Billy O’Keeffe, the concession of the second early in the second half was nearly worse. As the saying goes: ‘Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.’

After getting the deficit back to just two points at half-time, I felt the game was effectively over two minutes into the half. Slaughtneil brought the intensity and fight we expected, but they conceded too many frees. On the other hand, Ballygunner faced them down and put them down. Most of us probably expected the Derry side to dominate the battle in swarm defence and ruck ball, especially from their football experience, but I felt Ballygunner shaded it.

I also thought Slaughtneil overcompensated in their planning around Dessie Hutchinson because they conceded too much space elsewhere in their defence, which the Waterford side neatly exploited. Dessie still got his three points from play, but the real damage was done by Peter Hogan, Billy O’Keeffe, and Kevin Mahony, who were all outstanding.

One of the biggest conundrums Ballyhale will face in the final will be in trying to stop Dessie on a carpet of a pitch in Croke Park. Ballyhale might feel they play their best stuff up there, as they did in the Leinster final, but the Gunners look made for Croke Park, especially with how well they played in Páirc Uí Chaoimh against Kilmallock.

The Waterford side are going into this final in the ideal way, especially after scoring 2-19 in a tough dogfight against a hardened outfit, many of whom were playing in their seventh All-Ireland semi-final. On the other hand, are Ballyhale destined for three-in-a-row after another Houdini act?

I also gorged myself on hurling by watching 15 minutes of the first half and the entire second half of the Clare-Limerick Munster league final on live stream.

Limerick were awesome. They scored 27 points and hit 17 wides. It could have been nearly 40 points, but that’s how good they are. Limerick were creating chances all over the field, but their half-back line summed it all up for me. Paddy O’Loughlin, Colin Coughlan, and Ronan Connolly probably won’t start any championship match this year, but any of those three would be number 6 for Clare.

Some of the young Clare lads did well, but it’s not just Clare who will have concerns after yesterday — every other team will too. Because Limerick just look to have picked up from where they left off last August.