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Ballyhale Shamrocks celebrate at the end of the Kilkenny SHC final. Ken Sutton/INPHO
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'For this group of players it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity'

Ballyhale Shamrocks completed the Kilkenny SHC four-in-a-row and are now chasing their third straight Leinster and All-Ireland titles.

COROFIN WERE THE first team to win three All-Ireland senior club titles in-a-row in 2020, and Ballyhale Shamrocks could become the first hurling side to three-peat if they can extend their winning run to February.

The Kilkenny kingpins emerged from a county final battle against O’Loughlin Gaels at the weekend, setting up a Leinster quarter-final with Mount Leinster Rangers on 28 November. 

Last season’s All-Ireland club hurling competition was scrapped due to Covid, meaning Ballyhale remain the back-to-back defending champions. 

The nearest any hurling side got to winning three titles in succession was Portumna, who reigned supreme in 2008 and 2009 before losing the 2010 final. Their conquerers? Ballyhale Shamrocks.

Given the strength of this Ballyhale group, they might have already achieved that feat had Covid not struck but that thought hasn’t entered Joey Holden’s head.

“If you’re debating that and keeping that in your mind you’d be down the whole time,” said the defender, who came off the bench in that win over the Galway side 11 years ago. 

“Hurling was a secondary thing compared to people’s health and that so you can’t put that ahead of people’s health.

“Maybe it was an opportunity missed but, like, I’m happier that everyone got through it and my family members are happy. That’s more important than a game of hurling at the end of the day.

“Listen, it’s on this year, we’ll give it a rattle but this was the number one important thing and we’ll see how it goes after that.”

Of course, there has been a managerial change since Ballyhale last climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand.

Club legend Henry Shefflin, who remarkably didn’t lose a championship game during his two-year tenure, has moved on to pastures new in Galway.

His replacement, Waterford native James O’Connor, guided Shamrocks to successive Kilkenny titles and now gets his first crack at a provincial campaign. 

“When James came in first, one line he came in with was, ‘I’m not here to change what ye do, I’m just here to sharpen the knife’. And I think that’s what he done.

joey-holden-and-owen-wall Joey Holden battles for possession with Owen Wall of O’Loughlin Gaels. Ken Sutton / INPHO Ken Sutton / INPHO / INPHO

Holden continues, “He’s got a good bit of sharpness to us. It’s a long year for club lads when they go back, starting, to see the future six months down the line, to keep lads motivated and on song.

“It’s a tough job but he’s done it fierce well and he’s got his rewards.”

On his former manager and team-mate Shefflin, he says: “Listen, the best of luck to him.

“I loved him as a manager and I think the Galway boys will love him as well. But I just hope they don’t win too much is all, just from a Kilkenny man’s point of view.”

Ballyhale completed the four-in-a-row for the second time in their history, becoming only the third side in Kilkenny to achieve the feat.

“In the last two weeks, since we got to the county final, we didn’t shy away from the fact that we were going for four-in-a-row,” admitted Holden.

“We used it as a determination. This is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity for this group of players.

“Lads will come, lads will go but for this group of players it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity so why not use that as a motivation rather than as a pressure.

“Listen, we just like hurling, we just enjoy it and we enjoy making these people on the field very, very happy and that’s what we’ve done today so that’s all we concentrate on.” 

The likes of Holden, TJ Reid, Eoin Reid and Colin Fennelly are survivors from the Ballyhale side that denied Portumna that All-Ireland three-in-a-row, but the club have been boosted by a fresh crop of talented youngsters in recent years. 

tj-reid-with-damien-hayes-and-kevin-hayes TJ Reid of Ballyhale is tackled by Damien Hayes and Kevin Hayes of Portumna in the 2010 All-Ireland club final. Donall Farmer / INPHO Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO

Holden hailed their “massive” impact and believes the future of the club is in save hands.

“I remember sitting up there where Colin collected the cup (in Nowlan Park), myself and him sat beside each other and we were kind of after getting bet a few days earlier,” he recalled.

“We won the minors and we won the U21 and we were like, yes, this is a chance for us to set the culture in the club and set the standards that we want them lads to achieve and maybe they can drive us on in the future.

“I think that’s happened but there’s savage potential there in them lads to keep going.

“We’re getting a bit older now but they are lads that can light the candle for a long time now.”

Ballyhale now sit one behind Tullaroan’s 20 titles in the Kilkenny roll of honour. It’s a fair achievement considering that when Ballyhale won their first county final in 1978, Tuallaroan already sat on 19 wins. 

“It’s great going. The ’78 team have descendants here and generations gone past are here on the field as well. So to try and beat what they’ve done was a determination at one stage as well. That’s what it is, the hurling field in Ballyhale is the centre of the universe down there.

“That’s where everyone meets and gathers. To bring such enjoyment. It’s a relief from the real world sometimes.

“We’ve had ups and downs in the parish that we’ve had to go through and to come down here and just do what we do on the pitch, don’t have to think about what’s gone on. Just go down there and enjoy it. That’s the vital thing for us.”

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