Proud Adrian Mullen battling to keep Shamrocks on top in Kilkenny ahead of Tullaroan

Adrian Mullen (Ballyhale Shamrocks) at the launch of the AIB GAA, LGFA, and Camogie All-Ireland Club Championships. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Adrian Mullen says overtaking Tullaroan as the most successful club in Kilkenny was a significant moment for Shamrocks last year.

But their stay at the top of Kilkenny's roll of honour could be short lived with Tullaroan their opposition in Sunday's SHC final.

The jostling for position at the head of the county SHC table is an intriguing aspect to the UPMC Nowlan Park encounter with Shamrocks surging to the top after a thrilling couple of decades.

At the start of 2006, the Ballyhale outfit had just nine Kilkenny titles, compared to Tullaroan's 20, but they collected 12 in the meantime to jump beyond Bennettsbridge, Mooncoin and Tullaroan to the head of affairs with 21.

Shamrocks were already the most successful club in Leinster, with nine provincial titles, and nationally, with nine also.

Asked at the launch of the AIB club championships if overtaking Tullaroan last year was a big deal, club and county attacker Mullen nodded.

"There's no point saying otherwise, that it didn't mean something," said Mullen. "As players, you want to be winning county finals and you want to be making history for the club, because you know what it means to the club to win these finals.

"You would have been aware of the roll of honour, and how many titles each team were on and stuff like that. Last year, it probably was a motivation because to come from a club that's steeped in tradition, you want to leave it in a good place and try to get to the top and create a bit of your own history."

And yet for all the dominance enjoyed by the two clubs, there is very little rivalry to speak about between them.

Tullaroan last won a county SHC title in 1994 and had a spell in the intermediate ranks as recently as 2020. 

Shamrocks, meanwhile, have been on top for the majority of the last 20 years.

"I don't think we've ever met in a county final, not that I can remember anyway," said Mullen. "People speak about rivalries but in reality you probably have a rivalry with every club in Kilkenny that you come up against because you want to beat them and they want to beat you just as much. Then you have the roll of honour thing and I'm sure they're aware of that as well."

Mullen has been joined by his brother, teenager Jake, in the Shamrocks attack this season. They're the form team having racked up a series of strong performances and wins throughout the league stage of the campaign.

Mullen returned midway through the league stage, ironically in a 2-26 to 1-20 win over Tullaroan, after his latest injury setback.

He underwent double groin surgery last winter after being troubled by injury throughout 2025. There was a horror thumb break in a Leinster club clash with Kilcormac-Killoughey last November too.

A separate thumb break in 2023 was a problem as well, along with a hamstring issue that year, while he suffered an ACL tear in 2020.

At 27, he is naturally desperate to finally enjoy a sustained period of full health.

"That's definitely the goal," said Mullen. "Obviously it's to get through the club campaign and then over the winter just get the body in a place where you can compete consistently, where you can train and consistently play matches. That'll definitely be the goal, to get to that position, because I probably haven't been there in a good few years now."

He does at least know the new Kilkenny senior manager well, Henry Shefflin. A club colleague, Mullen won two All-Ireland titles when Shefflin was in charge, and King Henry had another spell over his club last year.

"The expectations for me are kind of individual more than anything," said Mullen of his county plans. "You just want to get to a place where you can get the best out of yourself, and hopefully that will help the team. When you look back on last summer, not getting through Leinster, you obviously want to make big improvements on that."