Andy Moloney: Matching 80s team provided extra motivation

As far as motivations go, few are stronger than emulating those who have come before you in your club.

For Ballyhale Shamrocks, that meant matching the deeds of the team of the 1980s and yesterday they finally managed that.

Essentially, two different core groups of Ballyhale players have won three All-Ireland titles each; the team of the 1980s and the present bunch. And now they are officially as good as each other.

“It was a driving factor, even for myself in the management team and Colm Bonnar, we wanted to be part of a set-up where we equalled the great team of the 1980s,” said joint manager Andy Moloney.

“That was the side with the Fennellys and all those in it. Obviously those names are still around today, the Reids are still around today, the Fennellys, so all their sons are there and they’ve won their third All-Ireland title.

“I suppose the other driving factor was that they felt they let themselves down over the last couple of years where they didn’t come out of Kilkenny.

“So they probably should have had this third title a little bit earlier but beggars can’t be choosers.

“Today, they got their just rewards because anything we asked them to do during the year, they did it.”

Depending on exactly how motivated Ballyhale are, they may yet push for four All-Irelands to outdo their famous fathers.

Mind you, it wasn’t always certain that this present team would return to the winners podium. Players like Bob Aylward, Aidan Cummins and the Shefflins are all in their mid-30s.

Joint manager Colm Bonnar believes an opinion existed that Ballyhale were past it when he and Moloney took the reins early last year.

“There was a perception out there that we were taking it at the wrong time, that they’d been through their prime and were on their way down,” said Bonnar.

“I knew some of the players from college and Andy would have played with some of them. So we knew that there was something in them. They’re just a quality outfit and all they want to do is hurl. They do the simple things right and at a high intensity. A lot of teams can learn from that.”

Bonnar praised the commitment of the team’s elder players in particular.

“It’s a hell of a commitment,” he said. “For the likes of Bob Aylward, he’s 36 or 37, Paul Shefflin, Aidan Cummins, Keith Nolan, Tom Coogan, it’s a testament to the lads that they’re able to come back and play at the level they’re at now.

“A lot of people might have thought Kilmallock were a younger team and might over run us but they stood up to everything they had to. How long can they keep going? I don’t know and when they do go, it will create a hole in Ballyhale. But at the moment things are looking healthy for us.”

There was little to take from the occasion for Kilmallock. They shot themselves out of the game with 10 first-half wides and were unable to conjure any sort of second-half fight-back.

It was all the more surprising considering the big numbers they’d racked up in the Munster championship and the All-Ireland semi-final.

“I can’t put my finger on what exactly went wrong,” said Kilmallock manager Ger O’Loughlin.

“Everybody was up for it and preparations were good. I suppose coming up to Croke Park, the surroundings, the wide pitch, it was lads’ first time here compared to Ballyhale.

“For a lot of our lads it was their first time in Croke Park and that does make a difference. I think it would be no harm to get a few training sessions here before the final. That would help lads to settle a lot quicker.

“You always look for those training sessions and we did a couple of weeks back but it wasn’t to be.

“In fairness, it made no difference to today, they were the better side.”