Kilkenny champions Shamrocks become first winners of new Tom Walsh Cup

Six year old Ronan Sheflin together with Joey Holden, captain of Ballyhale Shamrocks, and squad members and supporters celebrate with The Tommy Walsh Cup after the Kilkenny County Senior Club Hurling Championship final match between Ballyhale Shamrocks and Tullaroan at UPMC Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. | SPORTSFILE

placeholder image — Six year old Ronan Sheflin together with Joey Holden, captain of Ballyhale Shamrocks, and squad members and supporters celebrate with The Tommy Walsh Cup after the Kilkenny County Senior Club Hurling Championship final match between Ballyhale Shamrocks and Tullaroan at UPMC Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. | SPORTSFILE

The Ballyhale club won a 22nd senior title in Nowlan Park on Sunday

Shamrocks Ballyhale are once again kings of Kilkenny hurling after overcoming Tullaroan in the senior hurling decider and as well as claiming a 22nd county crown and back to back titles, they also became the first time winners of the new Tom Walsh Cup.

The senior trophy got a shiny new upgrade for Sunday’s final and the game probably didn’t do the trophy much justice with goals from the Mullen brothers Adrian and Jake setting the platform for a 22 point success in favour of the Shamrocks.

While the match didn’t live up to expectation, it was still rather apt that the two most successful teams in the county met for the new trophy in what was the first ever final meeting between the iconic finalists.

Joey Holden captained the Shamrocks to the championship win and the Kilkenny side will now move on to face the Harps of Laois in the opening round of the Leinster Championship in two weeks time.