Hurling & Camogie

Slaughtneil braced for challenge of star-studded Ballyhale Shamrocks in All-Ireland semi-final showdown

Kilkenny star TJ Reid has been in devastating form for All-Ireland champions Ballyhale Shamrocks. Picture Seamus Loughran.
Kilkenny star TJ Reid has been in devastating form for All-Ireland champions Ballyhale Shamrocks. Picture Seamus Loughran. Kilkenny star TJ Reid has been in devastating form for All-Ireland champions Ballyhale Shamrocks. Picture Seamus Loughran.

All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship semi-final: Ballyhale Shamrocks (Leinster) v Slaughtneil (Ulster) (tomorrow, Pairc Esler, 2pm)

MANAGED by Henry Shefflin, spearheaded by TJ Reid and backboned by All-Ireland-winning skippers Joey Holden and Michael Fennelly, Ballyhale Shamrocks even have a Brian Cody in their ranks.

The Kilkenny and Leinster kingpins are the defending All-Ireland champions and, with seven titles, they are this competition’s most frequent winners so Derry’s Slaughtneil really have it all to do in tomorrow’s semi-final in neutral Newry.

So much about competing at this level depends on how players come out of the dressingroom and if the Ulster champions take the field already feeling second-best against their much-vaunted opponents… Well, there’s not much point in them turning up for their third All-Ireland semi-final.

“There are very few easy All-Ireland semi-finals and we certainly haven’t had one, the quality has always been very high and it’s just the same on Sunday,” said manager Mickey McShane.

“You can either worry about that or prepare for it and give it your best shot and that’s what we’ve done. We’ve had a great seven-or-eight weeks’ training and we are feeling confident that we can go and compete with them and we’ll see where that takes us.”

With 2-40 in his last four games including an eye-watering 2-14 haul in the Leinster semi-final against St Martin’s of Wexford, Kilkenny star TJ Reid is the undoubted top trump in attack. But the Slaughtneil defence will also have to contend with the Codys, Eoin and Brian, Colin Fennelly and Adrian Mullen, another Cats’ forward.

“Ballyhale are the aristocrats of this competition,” McShane continued.

“They have won it seven times, the have 10 Leinster titles and they have stars through their team – guys who have All-Ireland medals hanging out of their pockets and Allstar awards and all that.

“But that won’t mean anything between two o’clock and half-three on Sunday. It’s all about what happens then and if we are going to go down and be in awe of these guys we have no chance. It’s 15 Ballyhale lads against 15 Slaughtneil lads, that’s the way we’re looking at it, and it’s all about what happens between two o’clock and half-three.

“If we play the way that we have prepared then we have a really good chance.”

No-team has got within nine points of Ballyhale since Shefflin’s men beat the James Stephens club in the Kilkenny final. Slaughtneil haven’t display the same firepower but Cormac O’Doherty (1-31 in the last three games) has scored heavily and McShane’s team was solid defensively in their run to the Ulster title, restricting Armagh’s Middletown to eight points and Antrim’s Dunloy to 0-10 in the final.

On the injury front, luckless Brian Og Corbett broke his leg during an in-house training game last weekend and McShane is also without Paul McNeill and Liam Cassidy for tomorrow’s clash.

“Other than that we are good to go,” he said.

“It’s a good test. We’re going up against the All-Ireland champions here, a team that is number one in Ireland. But that’s where you want to be, you want to be testing yourself against the best, the players want to test themselves against the best players in the country and we want to pit our wits against what is supposedly the best management team in the country and there is no bigger name in the GAA than Henry Shefflin.

“But we’re focussing on ourselves, we’re focussing on preparing our team but we’ll not be looking up the line in awe at the guys who are there. We have great respect for them but it’s about Slaughtneil on Sunday as far as we’re concerned.”

Those are rousing words from McShane who well relish this test. Ballyhale’s strength is their attacking firepower, the Kilkenny outfit has conceded sizeable totals throughout their championship run and McShane will hope that Shane McGuigan can keep tabs on dangerman TJ Reid and, with brother Chrissy battling hard to win ball in midfield, Karl McKaigue can restrict goal threat Eoin Cody and that his side’s attack will have a purple patch with Brendan Rogers and Se McGuigan clicking alongside O’Doherty.

Expect Slaughtneil to give everything but the quality and experience in the star-studded ranks should see Ballyhale through with a bit to spare.