Ballyhale Shamrocks and Tullogher Rosbercon landed two more Leinster titles for the county last Sunday to copperfasten what is undoubtedly the best year Kilkenny hurling has ever seen. Some might argue that the entertainment value wasn’t as high as other years, but in terms of trophies won surely ‘08 will never be surpassed. Last Sunday’s victory merely put the icing on the cake and it was the perfect ending to a perfect year.
On a cool frosty November day more than 4,000 diehard fans turned out to witness two hard fought games. The junior in particular was a cracking contest with both sides willing to die for the parish and jersey. The Tullogher Rosbercon players have taken some heavy knocks over the last couple of years; having lost consecutive county finals they are now reaping the rewards for persistence this year, and nobody would begrudge them the accolades they have won. On the back of losing two consecutive finals Tullogher Rosbercon regrouped and reaped the rewards last Sunday. Their triumphant year will give heart to any team that has had near misses in the past.
Sunday’s encounter was intense stuff. The Kilkenny junior champions were the more skilful side but they had to pull out all the stops to fend off a very determined Clongeen outfit. Tullogher took a three-point lead into the second half and extended it to five in the early stages of the new half, but they found it hard to shake off the Wexford men. Soft goals brought Clongeen level midway during the second half; they shared parity three times before the brave south Kilkenny men and gained the upper hand. Liam Barron, Eddie Conway, Richard Dollard and Martin Bookle all found the target in the second half to guide Tullogher to a famous victory.
The junior final was a perfect appetiser for the battle of the Leinster finalists. Birr and Ballyhale Shamrocks have dominated Leinster club hurling for the past three decades. Defending champions Birr slipped out onto the hallowed turf of Nowlan Park and warmed up under the new stand; it quickly became apparent that millennium man Brian Whelehan would once again be leading the attack despite reputedly having a knee injury. It was tit for tat in this regard as the talented Colin Fennelly was also back in the fold for the Shamrocks having been on the easy list since the county final. They say a good start is half the battle and so it proved; the Shamrocks set out their stall early in this game with Mark Aylward scoring within the first 30 seconds. One could sense that the Shamrocks were out to avenge last year’s defeat; they had the Birr men in a spin in the first quarter, TJ Reid found the net as early as the fourth minute when he capitalised on an error to ghost in and plant the ball past the Birr keeper. It all looked too easy for the Ballyhale men when Eoin Reid fired in goal number two. Henry threw over five points during the half, two of them from play were of the highest calibre. Eight points up at the interval, most patrons thought the game was over — in fact a few probably forecasted a drubbing for the Offaly men.
Far from it though, they are a proud club who don’t take defeat easily. They regrouped, made one or two changes, and came out a totally different side. Shamrocks started brightly enough with three great scores from Michael Fennelly (the new Kilkenny hurling captain for ‘09 ), Eoin Reid and TJ Reid before once again deciding they had done enough, a trait that has appeared in their game all season. Birr totally dominated both territory and possession for the remainder of the game but made the fatal error of searching for goals too early. Rory Hanniffy, Paul O’Meara, Stephen Brown and the Whelehan brothers all took the game to the Kilkenny champions. These guys are experienced enough to detect a team slackening, they reduced the margin to four points as the game entered its final stages. Having said all that the game never looked like slipping from the Ballyhale men’s grasp but they will be disappointed for taking their foot off the gas once again, it’s something I’m sure they will address before the Portumna game as they know they can’t afford to hurl for 30 minutes if they want to beat the Galway champions.
This semi-final is the game everyone has been waiting for; during the past couple of seasons they were arguably the two best club sides in the country. At present they should hide the hurls for a month or so and come back fresh so that they can prove they are the country’s finest. Once again well done on landing the club’s sixth Leinster title... roll on February.
Michael Lyng Motors All-Stars
Michael Lyng once again pulled out all the stops at Langton’s last Friday night for the All-Stars’ and players’ banquet night. Now in its fifth year, the Michael Lyng Motor’s All-Stars has become an integral part of the Kilkenny hurling year, a night to relax, mingle and reminisce about the local scene. Sixty-six players were nominated for 15 precious places. The MC was once again Micheál O Muircheartaigh; he was a jovial as ever as he slowly and tantalisingly named out the 15 winners. From a personal point of view it was satisfying to see Martin Carey get his just reward with the number one spot; he has been a model of consistency over a long number of years. Jackie Tyrell, as expected, took the night’s highest honour when he became the third Village man in five years to land ‘Kilkenny player of the year’. Damien Fogarty of Erin’s Own beat off strong opposition to land the intermediate award, while Tullogher Rosbercon John Cottrell claimed the junior award. As seen below the famous 155 would give any county team a run for its money.
