Ballyhale manager James O’Connor: I knew I had the best man standing over late free

TJ Reid of Ballyhale Shamrocks celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the All-Ireland Senior Club Championship semi-final. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Ballyhale manager James O’Connor was understandably relieved at the final whistle after the All-Ireland club SHC win over St Thomas — and quick to pay tribute to his side’s never-say-die attitude.

“That’s what you get from experience, chances like that, and the Shamrocks only need one chance like that and they’ll penalise you on it. From my perspective, we came up to win a semi-final and I said before I didn't care if it was one point or 20 points - and that’s how it panned out.” 

The win came courtesy of that late, late TJ Reid free.

“I knew I had the best man standing over it, first thing, if he saw a gap - you’re talking about inches, but in fairness he was the right man, thank God.

“I knew it was the last puck of the game, and it was always going to take a second goal to win it.

“I was a defender in for penalties myself and sometimes you can crowd it out too much, there were a lot of bodies in there, but that’s a great scenario for the free-taker - if you just put it in between a couple of fellas you’ve a 50-50 chance at least.” 

O’Connor said his side had plenty to work on for the final against Ballygunner of Waterford.

“Loads - I was disappointed, particularly in the first half, I thought we never got out of the traps, we weren’t winning breaks around the middle of the field, we weren’t bringing the same work rate we normally bring.

“That was disappointing but we have a tendency to do that in semi-finals, not going at full throttle, but we have one game left and it’s a huge one.

“I’d know them inside out. It’s their first All-Ireland, they’ll throw everything at it - they have a great panel so it should be a great spectacle in three weeks’ time.”