Seven up for Shefflin’s Shamrocks as Ballyhale crowned champions
Back in October of 2017, Henry Shefflin’s last season as a player with Ballyhale Shamrocks, they were torn asunder by James Stephens in the Kilkenny senior hurling championship.
Ballyhale had led at half-time in that county semi-final, only to be outscored by 16 points in the second half.
At half time in yesterday’s AIB All-Ireland club decider, despite being five points up and in a strong position, rookie manager Shefflin still sensed his players had more in them, so reminded them of that difficult day in the autumn of 2017.
Truth be told, the Kilkenny great was thinking about that game beforehand and how he might use it to his advantage as part of a ‘game of inches’ style speech to inspire a record seventh All-Ireland win.
“It was just something I’d thought of in the lead-up to the match, that 18 months ago when I was in that dressing-room myself, we were six points ahead in the county semi-final at half-time and we ended up losing the second half by 16 points,” said Shefflin.
“Anyone walking out of Nowlan Park that day would have said: ‘Jesus, I don’t know about these lads’. So it’s been an amazing turnaround. And wasn’t it great to use that today at half-time, to say: ‘Lads, that’s where you were and look where you are now’.”
It was a clever move from a new manager making a huge impression on the game and one that clearly inspired his players.
Led superbly by Colin Fennelly who sniped 2-4 overall from the full-forward position, the Leinster champions cut through St Thomas’ like a hot knife through butter in that second half, reeling off bursts of six and then seven points without reply.
It was like turning the clock back a decade or so to when Shefflin himself was torturing defences at Croke Park in a black and amber jersey.
Kilkenny may have slipped back in recent seasons, but Brian Cody must be hugely excited now at the prospect of some of these Ballyhale players stepping up to senior county level.
Fennelly and TJ Reid, who struck 2-13 between them, are well established, but Adrian Mullen looks like a genuine star in the making.
A former Kilkenny minor sensation himself, and young guns Dean Mason, Evan Shefflin, and Eoin Cody have taken the club championship by storm this season.
St Thomas’, champions as recently as 2013 and still in the game at half time despite leaking two goals to Fennelly, had no answer when Ballyhale upped the ante.
“I think they just believed,” said Shefflin of his younger players.
“That belief is there that if they get an opportunity, they’ll take it. And at the same time, they’re great players. No different to the St Thomas’ lads, they applied themselves very well. And when you have Michael Fennelly and Colin Fennelly and Joey Holden and TJ Reid working harder than probably anyone else, then what you are going to do, only follow them?
“That’s the template you have to follow and that’s probably the secret to it. It’s just about putting in that work and the hours and hours of practice. You imagine all the kids in Ballyhale today, what do they want to do tomorrow morning? They want to go and hurl.”
Captain Michael Fennelly dedicated the win to Eoin Doyle, their former colleague who passed away following an accident last year. One of his old jerseys was hanging in the dressing room at Croke Park.
“Little did I think when I took on this job that I was going to end up here,” said Shefflin. “It’s just been an amazing journey, there’s been some amazing days, there’s been some very sad days too, burying Eoin Doyle, one of our panel members.”
Shefflin reckons Doyle was ‘watching down over us’ and, if he was, he would have been satisfied with the performance he witnessed.
After just five minutes, Ballyhale led 1-4 to 0-1 and while St Thomas’ fought back to level terms, it was a brief insurgence.
Fennelly’s second goal in the 22nd minute, a sumptuous flick past the ‘keeper, propelled Ballyhale back into pole position and they led 2-10 to 1-8 at half-time.
St Thomas’ weren’t helped by the absence of county man Eanna Burke from their attack after a knock in training. Even with him, they’d surely have struggled such was the craft, ferocity, and sheer quality of the second-half display from Ballyhale.
Darragh Burke clipped a point for St Thomas’ to put the gap at just four early in the second half, but it was all downhill from there as Ballyhale hit 12 of the next 13 points. In the end, they had 10 different scorers and were splitting the posts for fun from all sorts of angles.
There was some consolation late on for St Thomas’ when David Burke rose highest among a group of players to get his hurl to Shane Cooney’s 65 and redirect the ball to the net.
Scorers for Ballyhale Shamrocks:
C Fennelly (2-4), TJ Reid (0-9, 5 frees), A Mullen (0-5), E Cody, B Cody, P Mullen (0-2 each), R Reid, E Shefflin, R Corcoran, M Aylward (0-1 each).
Scorers for St Thomas’:
Darragh Burke (0-7, 6 frees), D Burke, C Cooney (pen) (1-0 each), D McGlynn, J Regan, B Burke, B Farrell (0-1 each).
BALLYHALE SHAMROCKS:
D Mason; D Mullen, J Holden, B Butler; E Shefflin, M Fennelly, R Reid; P Mullen, R Corcoran; A Mullen, TJ Reid, B Cody; E Reid, C Fennelly, E Cody.
Subs:
M Aylward for E Reid (42), C Walsh for Corcoran (54), Kevin Mullen for D Mullen (58), J Cuddihy for E Cody (58), G Butler for M Fennelly (60).
ST THOMAS:
G Murray; C Mahoney, S Skehill, C Burke; D Cooney, S Cooney, F Burke; J Regan, David Burke; Darragh Burke, C Cooney, D Sherry; B Burke, B Farrell, D McGlynn.
Subs:
M Caulfield for F Burke (49), C Fallon for Regan (52), C Kelly for Sherry (56), D Finnerty for McGlynn (60).
Ref:
F Horgan (Tipperary).
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