‘That’s it, over and out’- Willie Hyland confirms Clough-Ballacolla exit after Shamrocks Ballyhale defeat

Willie Hyland emerged from the Clough-Ballacolla dressing room in UPMC Nowlan Park on Sunday, around 20 minutes after seeing his side come agonisingly close to pulling off one of the biggest shocks in recent Leinster Club SHC history.

His team had matched Shamrocks Ballyhale for the majority of the contest. The sides were level with 57 minutes played, but the Kilkenny champions found three late points to edge themselves into the Leinster final.

“It's hard to sum up now at the moment to be honest. Just very, very disappointed. Look, I thought there with five minutes to go, we were right in it. They're a quality team and they’ll punish you down the far end. We had our chances, we couldn't fault the players, typical of our lads, they just kept going. I'm just unbelievably proud of them. Like, we just said it inside, they were absolutely unbelievable out there. Sometimes parts of our hurling were poor, but just the absolute heart and work ethic they gave us. There were loads of ruck balls; it was tough conditions out there. Just devastated now that we couldn't get over the line,” he said.

Clough-Ballacolla looked to be peaking at the right time, but Hyland admitted that his side were searching for that one goal chance that could have swung momentum.

“We looked in a good position, all right, but you're never in control. They’ve got so much quality around the field that you might keep Eoin Cody quiet, but he could make space for somebody else, the same with TJ. They got a couple of vital scores there near the end. We just couldn't get that goal chance that we wanted at the far end. It's just tough now, yeah,” he said.

Stephen ‘Picky’ Maher’s introduction with 10 minutes remaining appeared to give Clough-Ballacolla a spark, but finding him with the right delivery proved difficult.

“The lads were under so much pressure out on the field. Ideally, you’d like him one-on-one at the edge of the square. He had to come out looking for a ball because the ball wasn't going in,” Hyland explained.

One man who did shine in the second-half was Willie Dunphy, who struck three superb long-range points after being moved to centre-forward.

“He came out the field, we brought him out the field to centre-forward and he started doing a good bit of damage out there. When he got the last one in particular, he had his gander up, I think it was his maybe third point. I thought Jesus we're in a good place here now and Picky was on the field, but you have to finish a job and we just didn't do it,” Hyland said.

Clough-Ballacolla almost scored a second goal before half-time when Aidan Corby’s effort was saved, with Dunphy firing the rebound over. Hyland said mistakes were inevitable at this level and that his side hoped to finish strong.

“Probably the better one before that, I think it was Mark. When you look back on the video, you'll say, but in fairness, you're under savage pressure out there. The levels have gone up, this is the last four in Leinster so we're going to make mistakes. We said that to the lads before the match, we're going to make loads of mistakes and they're going to have purple patches, but we were just hoping that we'd have a late, late purple patch, but we didn't have it,” he said.

Asked if this was Clough-Ballacolla’s best performance outside Laois, Hyland pointed instead to their 2021 win over Kilmacud Crokes.

“I don't know, I don't think so. I felt that maybe the Kilmacud game was up there. I thought that some of the mistakes that we made out there will haunt us for a while now,” he said.

Hyland then confirmed that Sunday’s game was his last as manager, bringing an end to a two-year spell that delivered two Laois SHC titles.

“Oh, no, look, I've said to the lads I won't be there, but the lads will be there and as a club will be there. I have a lot going on, a young family and different things, so I won't be there. Look, it's been a great two years, and if someone said to me when we took on the job that we'd win two county finals, and, you know, maybe, I think they’ll be there or thereabouts for the All-Ireland, run the All-Ireland champions, to give them the scare that we did. Still, it'll haunt us that we didn't finish the job; that's probably just the way I look at things. They beat us in that Leinster final a couple of years ago, nearly ruined our winter, to be honest with you. You have to be a competitor; moral victories are no good to us, that's the way we look at it,” he said.

The defeat, he admitted, will linger.

“You’re catching me right at the wrong time here now, but it's going to hurt and it’s going to sting because we were just there, but not just there, it was a draw match with what four or five minutes to go. We were where we wanted to be and we had the right men on the field in the right positions. Our lads, one or two of them got tired, never tracked runners, but how could you give out, like, you can't give up out to the lads. 56 minutes into an absolute battle out there, they’re going to be banjaxed. They left it all out there, we threw in fresh legs, we could probably analyse things for the whole winter and say, could we have done this, could we have done this, but, look, they're a serious outfit, as you know,” he said.

Hyland also paid tribute to those who worked alongside him.

“It was very, very much a whole backroom team effort there with Shane (Maher) and Mick (McEvoy). We had Tom Delaney last year, Liam Hyland and Liam England came in this year and Niamh (Guy) as well. There are loads of people helping out there in the club and contributing to it. If someone said to me at the start of our term that we'd win two county finals and I would like to think that we've left the team in a better place now for whoever comes in now. Look, I'll still be as passionate about Clough-Ballacolla as anyone, but, yeah, look, that's it, over and out,” he confirmed.

Attention then turned to the opposition, and especially TJ Reid.

“I'd say a number of different things. They work unbelievably hard. I think if you looked at any of our defenders, the pressure they were under clearing ball. They punish your mistakes, that's the thing. You're going to make mistakes, but they'll punish you. In fairness, uncharacteristically, they drove a couple of wides, but that's why I felt we had a great chance. It was seven, eight minutes to go, they missed two balls in open play, they put them wide. I think TJ missed a free as well, but at the end of the day, the game was 63 minutes, and they found a way, like all good teams do.

“Look, they’ve won what, I think TJ Reid has won 12 county finals at this stage, four All-Irelands, nine Leinsters, like, jeez, you know, unreal. They have that tradition, and they have that know-how to win, you know? There’s nothing left to be said about TJ, but I thought our lads did well on him, to be honest, you know? They deserve massive credit. He’s a class act, he's on the road a long time now, but, no, I'd have to give credit to our lads too, to be honest,” he said.

Hyland believes the modern club championship has become a great leveller. The gap between counties, he says, is far narrower than many assume, and once champions meet, reputation counts for little.

“That's the beauty of the club championship now, because you could have, I don't know, a couple of clubs in Laois, maybe two or three clubs in Laois, who would fancy themselves against others, but maybe we wouldn't have the depth that, say, Kilkenny clubs would have. But at the same time, when the champions meet, it's game ball. You look at Carlow, for example, they've got St Mullins or Mount Leinster Rangers, they've got two clubs, Antrim is the same, you often see Dunloy. That’s the beauty of it, lads, and that's why club games should never change,” Hyland concluded.

READ NEXT: Clough-Ballacolla heartbroken late on as Shamrocks Ballyhale finish with a flourish in Leinster SHC