Hurling & Camogie

Ruthless Ballyhale pip Slaughtneil to keep back-to-back All-Ireland dream alive

Colin Fennelly grabbed two crucial goals for Ballyhale Shamrocks as they saw off Slaughtneil in Newry yesterday. Picture by Seamus Loughran
Colin Fennelly grabbed two crucial goals for Ballyhale Shamrocks as they saw off Slaughtneil in Newry yesterday. Picture by Seamus Loughran Colin Fennelly grabbed two crucial goals for Ballyhale Shamrocks as they saw off Slaughtneil in Newry yesterday. Picture by Seamus Loughran

AIB All-Ireland Club Senior Hurling Championship semi-final: Ballyhale Shamrocks (Kilkenny) 2-24 Robert Emmett’s, Slaughtneil (Derry) 2-19

SLAUGHTNEIL simply couldn’t have given any more. Had they been pitted against any other team in Ireland yesterday, they would likely be looking ahead to a date with destiny at Croke Park on January 19.

Playing the best brought the very best from the Emmett’s. Every time you thought the Kilkenny kingpins were getting away, the lasso would be wound around their waists as 60-plus minutes passed by in the blink of an eye, neither yielding a yard in an absorbing, enthralling semi-final showdown.

When Brendan Rogers grabbed hold of Oisin O’Doherty’s puck-out 30 yards from goal, turned and buccaneered through the Ballyhale back line before blasting to the net, the Slaughtneil support erupted.

This was their chance. Twice before they had seen their hurlers lose out in the last four but, with two minutes left, and only two in it, the dream had never felt more alive.

Yet while Henry Shefflin may be pacing the line rather than leading the charge these days, the killer instinct that set him apart during a glorious career continues to define the group he oversees.

In a frenetic second half, they scored 1-13, registering just one wide – and even then it was the last puck of the game, from a TJ Reid free, as if only to prove that he is in fact only flesh and bone on an afternoon when he was at his imperious best from frees.

Colin Fennelly was a peripheral figure for much of the game, yet retains a constant and deadly threat.

He could easily have wound up with four goals instead of two after a first half shot flashed just wide of the post before the sliothar bounce back off the stanchion and into play from a second half missile that looked destined for the top corner from the second it left his stick.

And when they needed him most, he delivered, as he always does.

With maroon jerseys either side, the 30-year-old burst into the square and, despite appearing to lose his balance, somehow managed to stay on his feet before thrashing to the net.

A photographer’s flash illuminated the moment as darkness began to fall on Newry, a picture perfect moment and a final, decisive blow from which there would be no coming back for the Derry and Ulster champions.

It will have been a long trip back home, All-Ireland semi-final defeats don’t get any easier to stomach, and a third in four years will take some time to get over for Michael McShane’s side.

Yet the Ballycastle man couldn’t have been more proud of the performance of his players in the face of their greatest challenge thus far.

“It was an incredible standard but it’s a standard I knew they could get to,” he said.

“The last time we got to an All-Ireland semi-final we had the dual aspect to deal with and we didn’t get to play as much hurling or train as hard as we’d like to. Our preparation was so much better this year.

“Whilst losing it seems strange to say that was the greatest performance they’ve ever had, but to me that was the best performance in my tenure as a manager. I’ve just told them in the changing room how proud I am of them.

“They’re gutted, devastated, we came here to win and we haven’t but we can walk away with our heads held high. We’ve proved Slaughtneil from county Derry belong at the top table of club hurling.”

Brendan Rogers shone like a beacon while Karl McKaigue once more proved himself as canny a man-marker as they come, holding Kilkenny star Adrian Mullen scoreless, impactless, before doing the same to Eoin Cody.

Indeed, Ballyhale found it really tough in the absence of the kind of space their forwards had enjoyed en route to Leinster success. Reid, for all his class from frees, managed just one from play thanks to the close attentions of Shane McGuigan.

Gerard Bradley worked his socks off as sweeper, with Brian Cassidy helping plug any gaps around the middle when not marauding up and down the wing. Cormac O’Doherty, Chrissy McKaigue… you could go on all day.

They were superb from start to finish, and the intention was clear from the off; to pin Ballyhale back in the early stages, and they did so in some style, romping into a 1-2 to 0-1 lead after six minutes when Jerome McGuigan swiveled and shot low into the corner past Dean Mason.

Yet when Ballyhale started to hit their stride and enjoyed periods of dominance, they were a joy to behold.

In the weeks leading up to the game they lost Conor Phelan to a cruciate ligament injury suffered during a St Stephen’s Day training session, but regular midfield partner Ronan Corcoran stepped up with a powerhouse display.

Richie Reid, who only returned to Ireland on Friday after an Irish army peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, struggled to get to grips with Rogers at times but grew into the game, with poacher supreme Fennelly always ready to pounce.

He did just that in the 19th minute to put Ballyhale ahead for the first time, 1-7 to 1-5, and they were never behind again.

But every time Shefflin’s men thought they had escaped Slaughtneil’s clutches, back they came. Ballyhale looked home and hosed when Eoin Reid’s first score of the game moved them five ahead with 11 to play but, aided by Rogers’s brilliant goal, the cavalry came again before Ballyhale’s ruthlessness eventually saw them across the line.

Munster champions Borris-Ileigh, who overcame Galway’s St Thomas’s in the other semi-final, will pose a formidable challenge in a fortnight’s time, but this was as significant a test as the reigning All-Ireland champions have faced in their bid to land the Tommy Moore Cup for a seventh time.

“I knew it was going to be a serious game,” said Shefflin.

“I knew about the athleticism, knew about the attitude, but the biggest concern for me was going to be the hurling. I knew with them not having the football this year, the hurling was going to be top class and that's what we saw today.

“The game was probably more about Slaughtneil's performance but it's been six weeks since we had a test like that. It's great to get something like that.”

Ballyhale: D Mason; D Corcoran, J Holden, D Mullen; E Shefflin (0-3), M Fennelly, R Reid; R Corcoran (0-2), C Walsh; A Mullen, B Cody (0-3), TJ Reid (0-11, 0-10 frees); E Reid (0-1), C Fennelly (2-1), E Cody (0-2). Subs: P Mullen (0-1) for C Walsh (HT), M Aylward for B Cody (57), J Cuddihy for E Cody (60+2)

Yellow cards: C Walsh (30), A Mullen (35), TJ Reid (46), D Mullen (60+4)

Slaughtneil: O O’Doherty; K McKaigue, S Cassidy, S O Caiside (0-1); C McKenna, Shane McGuigan, M McGrath (0-1); G Bradley, C McKaigue (0-2); B Cassidy (0-3), M McGuigan, C O’Doherty (0-9, frees), B Rogers (1-2); S McGuigan (0-1), J McGuigan (1-0). Subs: C McAllister for S O Caiside (49)

Yellow cards: M McGrath (21), S Cassidy (60)

Ref: F Horgan (Tipperary)