Anthony Daly: Ballyhale Shamrocks are just at a different level to every other club

When you think of the great hurling clubs none of them are anywhere near Ballyhale

BAND OF BROTHERS: Ballyhale Shamrocks players, left to right, TJ Reid, Joey Holden, and Richie Reid celebrate after the AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Final match between Shamrocks Ballyhale of Kilkenny and Dunloy Cuchullains of Antrim at Croke Park in Dublin. Pic: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

I was only in Ballyhale once. Correction, I wasn’t actually there, I only passed through it on the way to Waterford. I remember looking out for the hurling field but, being honest, I can’t exactly remember spotting it. I was gone through the place before I knew it.

It’s hard to believe just how small the strongest and most successful hurling club in the world actually is. It’s hard to countenance that such a tiny outpost could produce so many generations of, not just great players, but all-time greats. But that’s what Ballyhale do. And winning All-Irelands is the primary currency in which they have always traded.