Five-goal Ballyhale Shamrocks use 'hurt' to cruise to Kilkenny SHC treble

Early salvo puts Ballyhale men on march to an 18th Tom Walsh Cup

Ballyhale Shamrocks captain Richie Ried is lifted up by his teammates following their Kilkenny SHC final victory over Dicksboro at Nowlan Park. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

SHAMROCKS 5-19 DICKSBORO 1-10

No Leinster or All-Ireland titles for Shamrocks to chase and on the basis of this massacre the majority of county champions around the country will be thinking just as well.

Without their two other crowns to defend, it looked and felt as if they took out all that frustration on Dicksboro. A look back on their previous 17 county championships and none of them come close to the comprehensiveness of this three-in-a-row-sealing success, not even the victories of their great Fennelly-laden team of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Manager James O’Connor couldn’t say it but he was sure they were going to win. The season had been a slow burner with those iffy displays in the league but come championship there was a metamorphosis. And while their semi-final win over James Stephens was far from perfect, it had given them the battle they yearned for.

“Unbelievable pride, and their pride was hurt a couple of times this year,” he said, referring to the league draw with Tullaroan and defeat to O’Loughlin Gaels. “I knew this was coming. They are very much a together type of team, they play for each other so again I’m not surprised, they are a serious outfit and look you have Adrian Mullen coming back in next year, I can see them only getting better.”

Ballyhale Shamrocks' Eoin Cody celebrates scoring his side’s fifth goal. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Should he stay around in 2021 as is expected, O’Connor will hope to benefit from a full pre-season. And still they had enough in this championship to excel, accumulating 16-96 in four matches.

What was most impressive here was how they learned from the Stephens’ game. Early blitzes had put away teams earlier in the championship and their rapid start was repeated here with 13th and 21st minute goals from Eoin Cody and Colin Fennelly.

But unlike the semi-final, they was no let-up, no opportunity for Dicksboro to work their way back into the game. Seven points up at the first-half water break, they were eight ahead at half-time, 2-9 to 0-7, when against James Stephens they had surrendered an eight-point advantage.

“Two weeks ago, even though we won we were a bit disappointed with the way we performed, especially in the second half,” admitted O’Connor. “We set out over the last two weeks to come out and hit the ground running today. The first 10 minutes, there was just a relentless work-rate throughout and that was from number one all the way to number 15. They just put in a remarkable work-rate and we came out with the result in the end.

“You’re always a small bit worried but I knew in the week leading up to it that they were very focused in training. Some of the training games we had over the last two weeks were unbelievable — they were like county finals and I knew the hunger was really there.

“It was just a case of getting a good start and performing to the end of the first half. and go out and win the first 10 minutes of the second half then and see it over the line and thankfully that’s what happened.”

Dicksboro didn’t help themselves. Their half-back line was lured so far up the field that Evan Cody was left alone on several occasions against Fennelly. Eoin Reid, who later claimed a quickfire brace of goals, was also in for a goal in the first half only for his kicked effort to be deflected out by Darragh Holohan’s quick reflexes.

Shamrocks also demonstrated here that they are greater than the sum of their parts. Of course, Reid and Fennelly are integral to the effort but they contributed just 1-2 of their team’s 5-13 from play.

The expected duel between Reid and Cillian Buckley was only brief in the first half as the latter stuck with manning the middle as Reid floated to the wings and inside. Buckley, no slouch in athleticism or in the physical stakes, was hounded virtually every time he came into possession.

Eight first-half wides had deflated Dicksboro and Shane Stapleton, so good on frees in their semi-final against O’Loughlin Gaels, wasn’t so sharp here. He did cancel out an early second-half free by TJ Reid but the next four points came from Shamrocks, Joe Cuddihy becoming the sixth forward to score from play in the 36th minute.

Shamrocks led 2-16 to 0-9 at the second water break when O’Connor was still driving the message to his players not to relent. Eoin Reid responded to that with two green flags in as many minutes and Eoin Cody stretched the advantage to 22 points with a 53rd minute goal. Andrew Gaffney knocked in a consolation goal two minutes later but as Shamrocks ran their bench they were still scoring. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

The 60-second report

IT MATTERED

After they collapsed in the semi-final having gone eight points ahead of James Stephens, Shamrocks did not fall foul of complacency a second time. Restricting Dicksboro to two pointed frees in the third quarter killed this game.

CAN’T IGNORE

As this game ended as a contest early in the second half, thoughts drifted to the what-ifs and had Covid-19 not ravaged the GAA calendar, would Shamrocks be on the cusp of completing the three-in-a-rows in Leinster and the All-Ireland series? On the basis of this performance, yes.

GOOD DAY

Completing one of the most
emphatic Kilkenny final victories in history, this Shamrocks team, not old by any means, are already touted as the greatest the club have ever produced.

BAD DAY

Dicksboro are not this bad a team but they wilted when pressed by the physical power of this Shamrocks side they wilted. There is too much good work and potential in the club for this to have any long-lasting effects but they must learn from it.

PHYSIO ROOM

The sight of fit-again Adrian Mullen togged out and sitting in the Walsh Stand will surely have brought a smile to Brian Cody’s face sitting in the Grace Stand. Just over seven months after his cruciate tear, his return is a quick one.

SIDELINE SMARTS

Call it naivety or something else but Dicksboro were so bent out of shape by the Shamrocks’ forwards that they really should have deployed a sweeper in front of Colin Fennelly and left Cillian Buckley the full-time mantle of marking Reid. But then sweeper is a banned word around these parts.

BEST ON SHOW

Take your pick from the Shamrocks side although there were a few ahead of the usual contenders, Fennelly and Reid. Eoin Reid’s brace came at a time when the writing was on the wall. Richie Reid gave a commanding captain’s performance at centre-back.

MAN IN THE MIDDLE

Shamrocks made the game simple for Ray Byrne.

Scorers for Shamrocks: TJ Reid (0-8, 3 frees, 3 65s); E Reid (2-2); B Cody, E Cody (1-1 each); C Fennelly (1-0); R Corcoran (0-3); P Mullen, J Cuddihy, D Corcoran, C Walsh (0-1 each).

Scorers for Dicksboro: S Stapleton (0-7, frees); A Gaffney (1-1); B Sheehan, E Carroll (0-1 each).

SHAMROCKS: D Mason; B Butler, J Holden, D Mullen; D Corcoran, R Reid (c), P Mullen; E Shefflin, R Corcoran; B Cody, TJ Reid, E Cody; E Reid, C Fennelly, J Cuddihy.

Subs for Shamrocks: C Walsh for J Cuddihy (50); E Kenneally for E Reid (54); G Butler for B Butler (56); M Aylward for B Cody (58); K Mullen for P Mullen (59).

DICKSBORO: D Holohan; C Fitzpatrick, Evan Cody, E Carroll; O Walsh, C Buckley, E Kenny; C Doheny (c), R Fitzpatrick; C Kavanagh, S Stapleton, L Moore; B Sheehan, E Gough, M Nolan.

Subs for Dicksboro: O Gough for C Kavanagh (26); A Gaffney for M Nolan (29); A Nolan for E Gough (33); M Gaffney for L Moore (46); M Fagan for O Walsh (blood, 49); M Fagan for R Fitzpatrick (56).

Referee: R Byrne (Glenmore).