Ballyhale Shamrocks 4-18
Ballyboden St Enda’s 1-18
Over the weekend Ballyhale Shamrocks saw off a spirited challenge from Ballyboden St Enda's in Nowlan Park to advance to the AIB Leinster Club Hurling Championship final where they will now face Tullamore. The high scoring game saw Kilkenny look the sharper throughout as their skill really shone.
Dublin outfit Ballyboden started strongly with four scores from Paul Ryan from placed balls giving them a 0-4 to 1-0 lead in the ninth minute.
However, the Shamrocks got into their stride with early goals from Henry Shefflin and Eoin Reid powering them to a 3-8 to 0-13 half time advantage.
Top scorer Shefflin let his experience show with a well-taken 14th minute goal after he got the better of Stephen Perkins.
Shefflin's goal pushed the Shamrocks into a 2-1 to 0-4 lead, with Ballyboden forced to push harder for a 17th minute point from David Curtin.
A fourth Ballyhale goal from the powerful TJ Reid arrived inside a minute of the second half with Ballyhale opening up an eight-point lead inside two minutes of the restart following another score from TJ's brother Eoin.
The Shamrocks went on to score four of the next five points with ‘Cha’ Fitzpatick, Henry Shefflin, and TJ Reid on target, with Ballyhale looking the winners at this stage.
Ballyboden made positive changes to their side in an attempt to turn things around by bringing on James Doody and Darragh Spain. However, this was not enough and while Liam Hogan's side worked for every ball, Ballyhale's greater experience helped ensure their qualification for their third Leinster final in four years.
Speaking to the Kilkenny Advertiser after the game manager Michael Fennelly was very impressed with his sides performance “goals win games and that was clear with our performance, we battled hard and Henry had a fantastic game, scoring 1-6, as did all the lads. We will look forward to the next outing now against Tullamore in a few weeks.”
Scorers:
Ballyhale Shamrocks: H Shefflin 1-6 (0-4f, 0-1 '65' ), E Reid 1-3, TJ Reid 1-2, C Fennelly 1-0, J Fitzpatrick, P Reid 0-2 each, M Fennelly, D Hoyne, M Aylward 0-1 each
Ballyboden St Enda's: P Ryan 0-8 (0-5f, 0-3 '65' ), D Sweeney 0-4 (0-1sl ), C Keaney 0-2, M Travers, D Curtin, N McMorrow, E Carroll 0-1 each.
Teams:
Ballyhale Shamrocks: J Connolly; A Cuddihy, A Cummins, P Holden, P Shefflin, E Walsh, B Aylward, J Fitzpatrick, M Fennelly, TJ Reid, H Shefflin, C Fennelly, P Reid, E Reid, D Hoyne.
Subs used: M Aylward for C Fennelly (49 minutes ), K Nolan for Cuddihy, B Costelloe for E Reid (both 53 ).
Ballyboden St Enda’s: G Maguire, J Duffy, S Perkins, M O'Sullivan, S Hiney, T Sweeney, M Travers, S Durkin, C McCormack, D Sweeney, D Curtin, C Keaney, P Ryan, S Lambert, N McMorrow.
Subs used: D O'Connor for T Sweeney (15 minutes ), J Doody for Durkin (47 ), D Spain for Ryan (49 ), E Carroll for C McCormack (50 ).
Referee: Barry Kelly, (Westmeath ).
