Photo: @AIB_GAA
AIB All-Ireland Club Senior Hurling Championship final
Borris-Ileigh 0-15
Ballyhale Shamrocks 0-18
Kevin Galvin
While last August’s intercounty battle between Tipperary and Kilkenny saw an electric Premier outclass the Cats with ease, this senior clash between the two counties’ club champions left Borris-Ileigh with nothing but regrets, after a game they left slip through their fingers.
Borris raced into an early lead, with Jerry Kelly impressing early on, the forward opened the scoring with a smashing score from a tight-angle, and added four more, including one directly from a delicious sideline cut.
But Ballyhale aren’t record holders for nothing, and rode out the early storm. TJ Reid, originally shackled by Brendan Maher, started to find some space in the middle and profited from a number of frees.
His third from the set piece put Shamrocks ahead for the first time in the encounter after 20 minutes.
It would be a lead they’d hold to the end.
They were four points ahead at the interval, but it could have been even greater - James McCormack did extremely well to close down and deny Colin Fennelly a goal after his surging run three minutes from the break.
And, in a game with just 16 scores in the opening 30 minutes, it still represented a reasonably sizeable margin.
The statistics will say that Borris hit eight wides in the game, but if one were to count the amount of times Ballyhale goalkeeper Dean Mason was on the end of an attempted score from the Tipperary champions, that number would comfortably reach double figures.
Their first appearance at GAA HQ was one to remember for the class of 1987, but for this year’s crop, after a season peppered with brilliant performances, the 40 minutes in the middle of this final was probably their worst.
The bus journey back to Borris will be a quiet one this evening, but Johnny Kelly’s men can take immense pride in making it back to Croke Park after such a challenging year, on and off the pitch.
For Ballyhale, greatness never gets old.
Scorers for Borris-Ileigh: J Kelly: 0-7, B Maher: 0-6 (0-4f), T Ryan: 0-1, Kevin Maher: 0-1
Scorers for Ballyhale Shamrocks: TJ Reid: 0-8 (0-5f), P Mullen: 0-3, E Reid: 0-2, E Shefflin: 0-2, A Mullen: 0-2, C Fennelly: 0-1
Borris-Ileigh: J McCormack; S Burke, P Stapleton, L Ryan; S McCormack, B Maher, R McCormack; T Ryan (C Cowan 52), D McCormack; C Kenny, N Kenny (M Stapleton 54), J Devaney; Kevin Maher, J Kelly, Kieran Maher (J Hogan 47).
Ballyhale Shamrocks: D Mason; D Corcoran, J Holden, D Mullen; E Shefflin, M Fennelly, R Reid; R Corcoran (J Cuddihy 47), P Mullen (C Walsh 60+1); A Mullen, B Cody, TJ Reid; E Reid (M Aylward 54), C Fennelly, E Cody.
Referee: C Lyons (Cork).
