O'Loughlin Gaels end Ballyhale's dominance in epic Kilkenny final

EPIC FINAL: All great champions eventually run out of road and Ballyhale Shamrocks came to the end of theirs in the Marble City on Sunday afternoon with O’Loughlin Gaels bringing their five years of county dominance - and more - to a halt.

Kilkenny SHC final

Ballyhale Shamrocks 0-19 O’Loughlin Gaels 0-20 

All great champions eventually run out of road and Ballyhale Shamrocks came to the end of theirs in the Marble City on Sunday afternoon with O’Loughlin Gaels bringing their five years of county dominance - and more - to a halt.

It took every last inch of their fibre to do it.

Trailing by a single point into injury-time, the city club had spurned too many chances in the end game to make believers of theirs in the 7,015 crowd but then wing-back David Fogarty landed an equalizer and Paddy Deegan fired a winner from out wide.

The sense of a great side taking one step too far was there in the fact that Ballyhale, without a clutch of key men this season, didn’t call on a single sub. And in the end last minutes when they withdrew everyone into their own ‘65’ for long stretches.

What a period it has been for the South Kilkenny club. There is no need to think that they will disappear with this but their stranglehold on Kilkenny hurling is over for now and this defeat for the All-Ireland champions opens up horizons in Leinster and beyond too.

The Gaels got the start all underdogs need so much with four unanswered points. It wasn’t perfect, too many balls dropped short on goalkeeper Dean Mason for that, but it was a solid bulwark on which to build for the afternoon.

Ballyhale took some time to find a stride up front but TJ Reid’s roaming tendencies eventually paid off with a pocket of space here and an acre of grass there and, being the hurler he is, he made the most of it.

Reid had two points from play and three more from frees by the break and he was dangerous in other snapshots too, setting Evan Shefflin for another score and being hauled down by Paddy Deegan when bee-lining in on goal at one point.

Neither side was able to find its best but it was even and honest and that was more than enough to keep the crowd entertained and engaged with O’Loughlin Gaels managing to keep a lead in place until the dying embers of the half.

Adrian Mullen finally got the champions level on the half-hour and they took the lead for the first time shortly after the restart through Eoin Cody. The sense of a game drifting slowly but inexorably away from Gaels began to set in.

But Brian Hogan’s side didn’t wilt or shirk. They kept plugging away and retook the lead at one point in the third quarter but missed a great opportunity after 41 minutes when Sean Bolger’s shot was deflected wide from a tight angle.

Tempers flared at one point with 18 players congregating for some push and shove down by the touchline wire midway through the half but that was a rare interruption to the hurling and and only the prelude to a thrilling end game.

Scorers for Ballyhale Shamrocks: TJ Reid (0-9, 0-6f); E Cody (0-3); A Mullen and C Fennelly (both 0-2); E Shefflin, C Walsh, E Kenneally (all 0-1).

Scorers for O’Loughlin Gaels: M Bergin (0-10, 0-6f and 0-1 ‘65’); P Deegan and J Nolan (both 0-2); D Fogarty, C Heary, O Wall, S Bolger, C Kelly and L Hogan (all 0-1).

Ballyhale Shamrocks: Dean Mason; Dara Mason, D Corcoran, K Corcoran; E Shefflin, R Reid, P Mullen; C Walsh, L Barron; A Mullen, TJ Reid, E Cody; E Kenneally, C Fennelly, N Shortall.

Subs: None used.

O’Loughlin Gaels: S Murphy; T Forristal, H Lawlor, M Butler; D Fogarty, P Deegan, J Molloy; J Nolan, C Loy; M Bergin, E O’Shea, C Heary; O Wall, P Butler, S Bolger.

Subs: C Kelly for O’Shea (41); L Hogan for Butler (50); J Ryan for Nolan (57).

Referee: P Burke (Emeralds).