Ballyhale Shamrocks 2-22 Kilmacud Crokes 2-19
For a few minutes in the second half of this Leinster club hurling final, arguably the greatest Croke Park comeback of all seemed increasingly inevitable.
Ballyhale Shamrocks had led by 11 points at half-time and pushed it out to 14 within three minutes of the restart. Talk of a remarkable Kilmacud Crokes double had long since gone quiet.
But a run of 1-7 without reply in the space of some eight minutes quickly put a sizeable dent in the deficit and though TJ Reid replied with a free for Ballyhale, an Oisin O’Rorke 65 and a brilliantly taken goal from Alex Considine reduced the margin to just a single point.
There were still 13 minutes of normal time remaining and Crokes had the considerable wind advantage and all of the momentum. A 14-point comeback against a side as celebrated as Ballyhale would surely have topped any previous turnaround at GAA headquarters, but then Ballyhale underlined just why they are so celebrated.
Not without a bit of luck, mind you, as ultimately Eoin Kenneally’s goal a minute later which swung the game back in their favour was wholly avoidable from Kilmacud’s point of view.
Like a number of their efforts into the second half breeze, Kenneally’s shot for a point fell short and as goalkeeper Eddie Gibbons emerged to contest possession along with his full-back Darragh Butler and Ballyhale’s Niall Shortall, the ball sailed harmlessly over all of their heads and into the net.
They got back within a score in injury time but, ultimately, Crokes never recovered.
“We probably left ourselves a small bit too much to do,” conceded their joint-manager Kieran Dowling. “We just asked the lads to batten down the hatches, go back to the basics of what we’ve always done and just start running hard at them.
“We’re talking about a fantastic comeback against arguably the greatest club team in the history of the GAA.
“To put up that type of performance and be here with huge regrets is testament to the work the team has put in themselves and the management to get them there.
“Just… regrets.”
They competed manfully in the first quarter but Ballyhale got away from them in the run to half-time, hitting 1-8 without reply and keeping Kilmacud scoreless for 20 minutes.
Again, the goal was avoidable, with Robert O’Loughlin in position to gather possession after Gibbons had saved from Eoin Cody only to fumble, with Colin Fennelly finishing the loose ball to the net in the 24th minute.
By half-time it was 1-15 to 0-7 and the Mullen brothers, Paddy and Adrian, tagged on points on the restart along with another from Shortall and it appeared as though Crokes would emerge with nothing less than a humiliating defeat similar to that which Clough-Ballacolla suffered in the same fixture last year.
But Ronan Hayes placed Caolan Conway for a superbly taken goal and Crokes started to tag on the points thereafter, with their pace and athleticism making Ballyhale increasingly uncomfortable.
Hayes was linking the play nicely for them, Dara Purcell was rampant as he hit three of his five points in a six-minute spell. Dean Mason denied Considine a goal with a fine save two minutes before the Kilmacud forward managed to arrow one past the Ballyhale goalkeeper to leave the holders on the brink before they found just about enough to hold off a fierce onslaught.
“We were really aware of their pace and I think we brought savage physicality to the first half,” said Ballyhale boss Pat Hoban.
“I think we really won all those battles in the middle third. It might have taken a bit out of our lads physically.”
Ultimately, Ballyhale became the first club to win four successive Leinster titles, extending their record number of provincial titles to 12 and setting up a much-anticipated All-Ireland semi-final against Ballygunner the weekend after next.
“You have to give Ballyhale character too, they showed savage character there,” Hoban added. “A lot of teams might have caved in in that last 15.”
Kilmacud certainly weren’t going to do that, Dowling insisted, regardless of the deficit they were faced with.
“This isn’t the old days of Dublin teams folding when they get into Leinster. Those days are over. We will not lie down. Anyone who saw us hurl in Dublin, even last year when we lost to Clough-Ballcolla, we went out on our shield. We will not go lightly.
“2005 was our first All-Ireland winning Féile. We’re here with two fellas still on the panel. We’ve had others since. This is down to 40 years of hard work on the ground to build numbers and get here.
“We’ll keep working and try and get back. You don’t build an empire in a day. If you look at what Ballyhale have done over the last 50 years, they’re here that long.
“We also have the economic imperative that we have a lot of highly educated players here who will emigrate. Darragh Butler is gone to the airport to emigrate to Australia. That’s one down.
“So that’s always going to happen to us.
“We will always lose players abroad. That’s part of our history. That’s going back to my time. That’s life.
“If we can keep building, we’ll be back.”
BALLYHALE SHAMROCKS: D Mason; D Mullen, J Holden, K Corcoran; E Shefflin, R Reid (0-1), D Corcorcan; A Mullen (0-4), P Mullen (0-1); J Cuddihy (0-1), TJ Reid (0-8, 0-6f), E Cody (0-2); E Kenneally (1-0), C Fennelly (1-3), N Shortall (0-2).
KILMACUD CROKES: E Gibbons; B Sheehy, D Butler, Cian MacGabhann; R O’Loughlin, M Grogan, Cian O Cathasaigh; B Hayes (0-1), D Purcell (0-5); Fergal Whitely (0-2), R Hayes (0-1), C Conway (1-0); A Considine (1-1), M Roche (0-1), O O’Rorke (0-8, 0-5f, 0-2 ‘65’).
Subs: B Scanlan for Conway (52), S Purcell for Roche (58).
REFEREE: P O’Dwyer (Carlow).
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