Relieved Fennelly hails battling spirit

IT wasn’t the classic many were expecting in Thurles yesterday, but it was a classic tale of two halves, Shamrocks dominating the opening period, denied on at least three occasions by exceptional goalkeeping from Newtownshandrum’s William Biggane.

But the Cork and Munster champions met an equally outstanding James Connolly for Ballyhale in the second-half.

A battle, then, rather than an exhibition, nip and tuck until the final whistle, and a very relieved Michael Fennelly (snr) afterwards. “We expected that,” said the Ballyhale boss. “We were unlucky we weren’t up by more than three points at half-time, though it was enough, as it turned out. The penalty save (37th minute, by Connolly off Ryan Clifford) was the turning point, a massive save. They had the better of the second-half, while we had the better of it in the first-half, even though we didn’t win the toss.

“We knew they had a running game, but if the running game isn’t working for you, it can backfire. Okay, it worked at times for them today, and a few wides they got in the second-half, they needed to score those, they slipped up, but then you balance that against the goal chances we had in the first half and I think overall our lads were the better team on the day.

“They turned it on for a while there, they had us rattled with ten minutes to go, but the boys dug deep, won a few frees, held out.”

From Fennelly’s Newtownshandrum counterpart, Phil Noonan, no excuses, the suggestion that a few pivotal close calls near the end were a bit harsh, batted away: “There was one decision there at the finish that went against us but that’s the game – you win some, you lose some. We were there or thereabouts and maybe the bit of physical strength caught us in the finish.

“We were under fierce pressure in the first-half because there was a strong breeze and physically they were stronger than us. They were pushing us off the ball but we knew that would happen, that they would be physically strong. We thought in the second-half maybe we’d get the breaks but we didn’t really. We had one or two chances that we didn’t take but overall there was only a puck of a ball in it.

“We’re proud of our own fellas, they put up a huge show; a few mistakes, maybe a lack of experience from some of our fellas, but overall we’re very happy with our performance, we’re very happy with the lads. We’ll learn from it and we’ll be back again.”

Back to Michael Fennelly and Ballyhale, however, and an acceptance that a repeat of this performance against Portumna in the final will not be enough to gain revenge for last year’s semi-final loss to the same opposition:

“Well Portumna are going for three All-Irelands in a row, but the boys can step up a gear. This was a massive game for the start of the year, we had only four weeks work done, and to get back to where we finished off last year was a big ask. We didn’t reach our peak, I accept that, but there’s more in them, and we’ll work on that over the next four weeks. The hurt (from last year’s drubbing) is over now I think.

“We’ll celebrate tonight and work on Portumna over the next few weeks, try to plot their downfall. We are looking forward to Paddy’s Day now and the final, it is a great occasion for clubs to be above in Croke Park.”