How the Treble tilt unfolded for Shamrocks of Ballyhale Part 1
A look back at the 2019 All-Ireland final victory over St.Thomas
Shamrocks 2-28 St Thomas 2-11
The biggest stage of all brought out the biggest response of all and it was a perfect coronation.
Ballyhale Shamrocks have a greater love affair with winning than any other outfit in the modern game, and while they are already the biggest winners in the All-Ireland senior club hurling championship their latest success was perhaps their finest.
This seventh success at cold and windy Croke Park was the most convincing, certainly.
Some stats underline the story. The new kings had the game as good as won by the 45th minute when they were leaders by 2-16 to 1-9 while playing with the strong wind.
Later they lost their leading man, full-forward Colin Fennelly, who had scored 2-4. He departed in the 64th minute after injuring his knee. As Shamrocks had already used their five subs they finished the game with 14 men.
And that finish was 14 minutes off, as eight minutes of additional time were added at the end of normal time.
And still St Thomas’ couldn’t threaten to upend Shamrocks. A show of hurling this certainly was!
Shamrocks are the biggest winners of the Tommy Moore Cup by some distance - Birr and Portumna are joint second with four each - but this one with a young and new team was as convincing as the score would suggest.
Colin Fennelly caused panic every time the ball came near his patch. St Thomas’ tried three different defenders against him during the opening half alone, but the Kilkenny star got the better of them all. He was the runaway winner of the Man of the Match award.
Leading by 2-10 to 1-8 at half-time, the Shamrocks practically won the match they drilled over six points without reply inside 10 second half minutes.
The gap was now a yawning 2-16 to 1-9. There was no way back for St Thomas’ after that.
Teams & Scorers
Shamrocks - Colin Fennelly (2-4); TJ Reid (0-10, 0-6 frees); Adrian Mullen (0-4); Brian Cody (0-3); Patrick Mullen, Eoin Cody (0-2 each); Mark Aylward, Evan Shefflin, Richie Reid (0-1 each).
St Thomas’ - Darragh Burke (0-7, 0-5 frees, 0-1 65); Conor Cooney (1-1, 1-0 penalty); David Burke (1-0); Brendan Farrell, James Regan, Bernard Burke (0-1 each).
Shamrocks - Dean Mason; Darren Mullen, Joey Holden, Brian Butler; Evan Shefflin, Michael Fennelly, Richie Reid; Patrick Mullen, Ronan Corcoran; Brian Cody, TJ Reid, Adrian Mullen; Eoin Reid, Colin Fennelly, Eoin Cody.
Subs: Mark Aylward for Eoin Reid, 42 mins; Conor Walsh for Ronan Corcoran, 54 mins; Kevin Mullen for Darren Mullen, 58 mins; Joseph Cuddihy for Eoin Cody, 58 mins; Gavin Butler for Michael Fennelly, 60 mins.
St Thomas’ - Gerald Murray; Cian Mahoney, Cathal Burke, Seán Skehill; Donal Cooney, Shane Cooney, Fintan Burke; James Regan, David Burke; Darragh Burke, Conor Cooney, David Sherry; Bernard Burke, Brendan Farrell, Damien McGlynn.
Subs: Mark Caulfield for Fintan Burke, 50 mins; Colin Fallon for James Regan, 53 mins.