Four in-a-row seeking Shamrocks carrying on proud tradition

EVEN as Kilkenny completed their four-in-a-row All-Ireland SHC success last month, another Kilkenny team was preparing to do the same thing, albeit on a different level.

Since 2006, and mirroring almost exactly what the county side have been doing on the national stage, Ballyhale Shamrocks have been the dominant force on the domestic scene.

Tomorrow in Nowlan Park, in the Kilkenny SHC final against James Stephens, they too will be going for four-in-a-row.

With two Leinster titles and an All-Ireland added during that period, this is a magnificent team at a magnificent time for Kilkenny hurling, and just as the county side have been drawing comparisons with great teams of the past, so it is with this current Shamrocks team. Where the boys in black-and-amber are out on their own, however, it’s a different scenario for Ballyhale — you don’t have to travel very far, nor do you have to go back very far, to find a team against which this current bunch don’t yet measure up.

Between 1978 and 1991, powered by seven Fennelly brothers, Ballyhale Shamrocks won nine senior county titles, four Leinsters, and three All-Irelands.

Most famous of those Fennelly brothers was Liam, twice captain of All-Ireland-winning Kilkenny teams; he wouldn’t be drawn on comparisons, but Liam is actually an unabashed admirer of the current team.

“What we had above everything else was a massive will to win, and we had great belief, which helped us win many a close game with crucial goals. And we were there when Kilkenny club hurling was very strong as well. But these boys have taken the club to a new level – just like Kilkenny at inter-county. They are relentless at what they’re doing.

“You’d wonder what it is that separates them from the rest, but I believe it’s down to their unbelievable skill level, the forwards especially. Take Eoin Reid, for example – he’s not any way fast, but if he doesn’t score four or five points in a game, there’s something wrong. Then you have Henry Shefflin, TJ Reid, Patrick Reid, Maurice Aylward there as well, with Michael (Fennelly, Liam’s nephew) and Cha (Fitzpatrick) bursting forward from midfield, looking for scores.

“Every one of them is capable of scoring points from midfield up. Colin (Fennelly, another nephew) is one guy who adds pace to the team, and you have Aiden Cummins (former county player) gone back to full-back.

“They’re just a bloody good hurling team, all round. And they’re great lads, their feet are firmly on the ground.

Still though, they haven’t yet matched the achievements of the team from your own day?

“No, but they’re going for four-in-a-row, which we didn’t achieve. I don’t like to compare, but there’s no team has ever been as free-scoring as this side. You look at them, they’re not a fast team — I’d say that as far as pace is concerned they’re probably even below average, which is surprising. But, it’s their ability to do with the ball what they do. When that ball is thrown up to that forward line, it’s very rarely that it doesn’t result in a score, and that is unusual in any team. For some reason I have yet to see anyone stop them from doing that until they met Portumna.

“Inside Kilkenny, however, when they put their mind to it they can put up huge scores; you’re getting scores like 2-15 against them, which in our day would have been enough to win almost any game, but they come back with something like 4-16, which they did in the semi-final against O’Loughlin Gaels.”

Given that recent record, then, what odds against them matching Kilkenny’s achievement, four-in-a-row? It can be done, reckons Fennelly, but he’s wary.

“James Stephens are one team that can challenge them, and they did last year (in the final). Ballyhale really had to fight for that win and James Stephens didn’t play up to their full potential.

“I believe it will be a lot closer than people think, but you’d have to go for Ballyhale. They brought in new management this year, which can give things new momentum, not that there was anything wrong with the old management team. But it does pay off, sometimes, to freshen things up, and James McGarry has brought in new ideas.”