Ballyhale Shamrocks (Kilkenny) 0-18
Borris-Ileigh (Tipperary) 0-15
NOVELTY IN THE shape of Kilkenny and Tipperary kingpins meeting in a decider of this type, familiarity in the identity of the club hurling team crowned the best in the land today.
For the second successive season Ballyhale Shamrocks are All-Ireland senior champions, Borris-Ileigh the latest team to discover the difficulty of trying to stifle them on final day.
The collection of their eighth title is further proof of the elevated standing that Ballyhale Shamrocks enjoy yet they needed to dig deep in this test. Borris-Ileigh produced another stirring display of courage and fight to push Henry Shefflin’s side to the finish line.
The Tipperary side hit four points on the spin between the 54th and 58th minutes, inspired by the twin threat of Brendan Maher and Jerry Kelly. That cut the gap to 0-16 to 0-14 and raised their hopes of a remarkable comeback.
But their star man shone brightest when they needed. TJ Reid fired over a point, was then fouled for a free he converted and Ballyhale were afforded some breathing space. There was a late charge by Borris, Kevin Maher smashing over a point and they had one last attack when their talisman Maher’s free from 30 yards out was beaten away by a crowd of Ballyhale resistance.
They couldn’t be faulted for effort but Borris-Ileigh could not manage to get close enough to deliver that knockout blow. Their marksmanship slipped short, six point attempts dropped into the hand of goalkeeper Dean Mason over the course of the game. Ballyhale had some terrific defenders as well in Darragh Corcoran and Darren Mullen.
If there were nerves in the Borris-Ileigh camp beforehand about gracing this stage, it didn’t translate to their early play. They were bright and composed, none more so than Kelly who stepped forward to make his mark. The full-forward fired over the opening point of the game from an acute angle near the Cusack Stand, he popped over a beautiful sideline cut from the Hogan Stand side and had chipped in with 0-5 by half-time.
The champions saw their grip of the game strengthen noticeably as the half progressed. Reid’s influence grew as he amassed 0-6, Colin Fennelly’s barrelling runs forward caused problems and the long-range missiles from midfielder Patrick Mullen supplied three points. They were 0-10 to 0-6 to the good at the interval, it was a cushion they could fall back on throughout the second half and victory ultimately came their way.
Scorers for Ballyhale Shamrocks: TJ Reid 0-8 (0-5f), Patrick Mullen 0-3, Evan Shefflin, Eoin Reid, Adrian Mullen 0-2 each, Colin Fennelly 0-1.
Scorers for Borris-Ileigh: Jerry Kelly 0-7 (0-1 sideline), Brendan Maher 0-6 (0-4f), Tommy Ryan, Kevin Maher 0-1 each.
Ballyhale Shamrocks
1. Dean Mason
2. Darragh Corcoran
3. Joey Holden
4. Darren Mullen
5. Evan Shefflin
6. Michael Fennelly
7. Brian Butler
8. Ronan Corcoran
9. Patrick Mullen
10. Adrian Mullen
11. Brian Cody
12. T.J. Reid
13. Eoin Reid
14. Colin Fennelly
15. Eoin Cody
Subs
21. Joseph Cuddihy for Corcoran (46)
22. Mark Aylward for Eoin Reid (53)
23. Conor Walsh for Patrick Mullen (61)
Borris-Ileigh
1. James McCormack
2. Séamus Burke
3. Paddy Stapleton
4. Liam Ryan
9. Dan McCormack
5. Seán McCormack
6. Brendan Maher
7. Ray McCormack
8. Tommy Ryan
13. Kevin Maher
12. Conor Kenny
14. Jerry Kelly
15. James Devaney
10. Kieran Maher
11. Niall Kenny
Subs
18. Jack Hogan for Kieran Maher (46)
19. Ciarán Cowan for Tommy Ryan (52)
21. Matthew Stapleton for Niall Kenny (53)
Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork)
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Spot on.
I share the undercooked concern. Choose close to full team, rest anyone with a niggle or still jaded from last weeks heat. Warm ups are over, time to build momentum.
Murray; first of all, I have really enjoyed the podcasts so far from France, so thank you for that.
My amateur opinion is that they should go full strength and treat the SA game like a final. Even if it’s a narrow loss, they’ll know that they’re close to the standard required to win the competition. If they win, then the belief will become huge. You have to bear in mind that Ireland have had some less good performances last Autumn and in the 6N, but they’re kept winning and so surely they have that winning mindset. This is pretty rare and the winning run is worth fighting for.
One question for you would be about training. I’d be happy if they were having a few savage full contact sessions, as these may be tougher than a match against a tier 2 nation, but the squad size is restricted so this may not be possible. Would this be another argument for going full strength against Tonga? I’d really like to see the line out attack come back and to deny Tonga from scoring a try.
Maybe the answer to this in 4 years is to line up top opposition in friendlies leading into the world cup. I get they need to get the A team up to 100% preperation firing for the SA game but at the expense of picking up injuries again the minnows before then is a risky plan…
@Stuart: You are probably right… but I think the IRFU found it difficult to line up a game against other tier 1 nations. The England game was probably lined up from 4 years ago. Maybe they left it too late to arrange the others and it wouldn’t be extraordinary to think that they were disorganised or complacent.
@Stuart: apparently other top tier nations turned down playing against Ireland in the summer internationals. Not sure if they left it too late or if other teams felt it would show their hand too much.
In all likelihood yourself and the others on media duties are aware of the team (as normal) but cannot spell it out BUT you’re trying to slowly row your way back from the, way off, potential team you posted a few days ago…. Nice try. It’ll be about 12 from first 15 and Big Joe may be on his way to being first 15 with anyone carrying minor niggle sitting it out. Murray knew a few weeks ago Big Joe would get his shot
Are we not finding excuses to talk ourselves into the very same situation that killed us in previous world cups – ie no trust in the wider squad and thereby overloading the core group? What you are saying, Murray, is that should Ireland win the WC, they would play basically the same team for 6 matches in a row (with only minor alterations from the remaining 7th game). That’s a tough message to the squad and it does not fit the McCloskey inclusion.
@John Morris: nah, I dont think so. We played a weakened team vs Japan 4 yrs ago and look what happened. Plus we play our best team in 6 nations each game for most part with slight adjustments for Italy. Look at what southern hemisphere do – play their strongest team pretty much for rugby championship and some warm ups. And they win every world cup except 1. I think Murray’s article is very well put together and I would agree full strength is required. Its not equal game time for all, go games style. These are fully grown men playing professional sport so get on with it. They;; be called upon if injury strikes. Thats the idea of a squad of grown men
Gonna be an interesting call, they can probably win with a 2nd string side but agree we should put out close to our strongest . Only player I would definitely look to leave out from the 23 is Porter and keep him fresh for SA. We can bring in the likes of Baird , Henderson, Henshaw , McCloskey and Byrne (sub) and steam roll Tonga
@Owen ODonoghue: Spot on about Porter. He is the one player we cannot afford to lose to injury. Playing against SA without him would be scary.
@Owen ODonoghue: Getting hard to see Byrne in the mix, no doubt he’ll be thereabouts for this game tho.
We’re at risk of Eddie O’Sullivan 2007 territory here by playing the same team every weekend. Given the likely hard slog against Scotland and every weekend thereafter they need to rotate this weekend