Typical of Kilkenny hurling that even as another leading name exits the inter-county stage, their success continues unrelentingly, with Ballyhale Shamrocks now just one victory away from becoming the most successful club in Leinster championship history.
Standing in their way, somewhat ironically, are Offaly champions Kilcormac-Killoughey; because beat them on Sunday week (the Leinster final is fixed for Portlaoise) and they’ll overtake former Offaly kingpins Birr, who like Ballyhale have already won seven provincial titles.
For Ballyhale forward TJ Reid – who hit 1-8 against Dublin champions Kilmacud Crokes in Sunday’s semi-final – the prospect of topping the Leinster charts seems a lot less important that simply toppling Kilcormac-Killoughey, who won their first and only Leinster title two years ago.
“It’s always nice to hear those things, that we could beat Birr’s record, but on the day we’ll just be concentrating on winning the Leinster final,” says Reid, with typical Kilkenny modesty. “We keep saying to ourselves, we might never get this chance again with the players we have [including a certain Henry Shefflin]. So we want to give it 100 per cent. We’ll work hard over the next two weeks and really concentrate on the Offaly champions because they are a very good side.”
Indeed Ballyhale could do with the break, having played on successive weekends since the middle of October.
Retirements
In the meantime, the rest of the Kilkenny players will return to training next month down another man, with goalkeeper David Herity announcing his decision to retire, coming on the back of Tommy Walsh’s similar decision last week.
For Herity, a five-time All-Ireland winning goalkeeper, the decision to retire at just 31 was possibly influenced by the fact he lost the number one shirt to Eoin Murphy for this year’s drawn and then replayed All- Ireland final against Tipperary.
Reid, however, believes Walsh might well have continued for another year, such was his enduring influence on the Kilkenny team. Not that he expects Walsh to be tempted back; once Kilkenny hurlers retire that does tend to be it.
“I was certainly very surprised,” says Reid. “I got a text last week, from Tommy, thinking it would be something like, ‘best of luck at the weekend’. So it was a big shock to the system.
“I often marked him when he was half-back, in his prime, and under the high ball, low ball, he was just a tigerish man for the ball. He gave us great leadership and spirit in the dressing-room. And I think he could have played on, yeah. He’s 31, so it’s a reasonably young age, but obviously he spoke to his family and friends first and he’s made his decision.”
