HENRY SHEFFLIN WILL take his Ballyhale Shamrocks team into action against the reigning champions Dicksboro in the quarter-finals of this year’s Kilkenny senior hurling championship.
Shefflin is in his first season managing Ballyhale Shamrocks and saw them win convincingly in the first round last evening, 3-22 to 1-12 against St Patrick’s Ballyraggett.
Their reward is a last eight fixture against Dicksboro, who claimed the Kilkenny senior hurling shield on Saturday and ended a 24-year wait to lift the county senior title last October.
Last year’s beaten finalists James Stephens, who triumphed in the senior hurling league final on Sunday, will have to wait for their quarter-final opponents with Erins Own taking on Carrickshock in a first round replay next Saturday. The losers of that game will face Danesfort in this year’s battle to avoid senior hurling relegation in Kilkenny.
Elsewhere there will be a meeting of recent champions at the quarter-final stage as 2016 kingpins O’Loughlin Gaels meet 2015 victors Clara. The clubs met in that 2015 decider when Clara triumphed.
The remaining quarter-final involves Bennettsbridge against Mullinavat, both clubs promoted from the intermediate grade in successive years in 2014 and 2015.
2018 Kilkenny senior hurling championship
Saturday 29 September
First round replay
Erins Own v Carrickshock, Clara, 2pm
Sunday 30 September
Quarter-finals
O’Loughlin Gaels v Clara, James Stephens Park, 12pm
Bennettsbridge v Mullinavat, Thomastown, 2pm
Dicksboro v Ballyhale Shamrocks, John Locke Park, 4pm
Saturday 6 October
Quarter-final
James Stephens v Erins Own/Carrickshock, Venue TBC, 2pm
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