Shamrocks Ballyhale will meet St Martin’s of Wexford in the AIB Leinster Senior Club Hurling Final on Saturday, December 6th, with throw-in at 6.30pm in Croke Park.
The Wexford champions have reached their first ever Leinster club hurling final after a composed and convincing display yesterday, defeating Naas of Kildare — managed by Kilkenny native and former Carlow boss Tom Mullally — on a 0-21 to 0-11 scoreline.
Ballyhale, meanwhile, were pushed all the way in their semi-final at UPMC Nowlan Park, edging out Clough Ballacolla 1-18 to 1-15 in a tight, physical contest that never allowed them to settle.
After the game, Shamrocks manager Henry Shefflin gave an honest assessment of the performance, admitting that improvements are needed heading into the final.
“I’m not very happy with the performance, I’m sure the players are not,” he said. “I don’t think it’s an ideal way to win it. You’d like to be playing with a bit of flow that we probably struck in the Championship, and even the second half of the last day. So from that point of view, no, you wouldn’t be happy and you’d be a bit concerned about various aspects of our play.
“But look, for character and the fight when it was there, they did still want to win it, so for that you’d have to be happy. Every day is different, but this was really winter hurling. And to be fair to the referee, I must compliment him — he was very fair to both sides.”
