Leinster Club SHC quarter-final: Ballyhale Shamrocks 5-25 Castletown-Geoghegan 0-15
Despite being without the services of TJ Reid, Ballyhale Shamrocks had too much class for Westmeath champions Castletown-Geoghegan in their Leinster Senior Hurling Championship clash in UPMC Nowlan Park.
Reid missed out on the game due to a slight groin injury but it’s not thought to be serious after he took part in the warm up before the game, and his teammates didn’t seem to miss him too much either.
Colin Fennelly, Eoin Cody and Niall Shortall all found the net as Ballyhale ran up a score of 5-25 as well as restricting their opponents to just three players finding the target.
As was evident in their Kilkenny SHC success, the defending Leinster champions look incredibly motivated as they look to make up for their last gasp All-Ireland final defeat to Ballygunner last February.
A Colin Fennelly goal in the 2nd minute got Shamrocks going early on but Castletown-Geoghegan, who were managed by former Leinster football championship winner with Westmeath Alan Mangan, stayed the course in the opening quarter.
Westmeath star Niall O’Brien led the charge and with Jack Gallagher also scoring five points from play in total, only three points separated the sides by the halfway mark of the opening half.
Ballyhale soon went up a few gears though with Killian Corcoran, Adrian Mullen, Eoin Cody and Colin Fennelly all scoring in a quickfire spell that quickly moved the Kilkenny side’s lead out to seven (1-9 to 0-5).
O’Brien and Gallagher replied almost instantly but it was essentially game over when Niall Shortall goaled in the 24th minute on the back of Eoin Cody having a shot saved by Kieran Glennon.
That led to Ballyhale taking a 2-13 to 0-9 point lead into the break and it looked an uphill task for Castletown-Geoghegan from there.
To their credit the Westmeath side were back to within eight points when Niall O’Brien knocked over the first two points of the second half but again it was Shamrocks’ goal-getting ability that set them clear as they found the net twice in the space of 60 seconds.
Colin Fennelly first found the top corner when bearing down on goal before Eoin Cody got in on the act with a wonderful individual effort that saw him run past a trio of Castletown-Geoghegan defenders.
That severely punctured the challenger’s effort and it was attack after attack for Ballyhale from that point on and Eoin Cody made the scoreboard look even more menacing when getting his second goal late on.
Ballyhale Shamrocks: Dean Mason; Darren Mullen, Joey Holden, Brian Butler; Evan Shefflin (0-1), Richie Reid, Darragh Corcoran; Ronan Corcoran (0-2), Killian Corcoran (0-3); Adrian Mullen (0-2), Niall Shortall (1-2), Eoin Cody (2-9, 0-7f); Eoin Kenneally (0-1), Colin Fennelly (2-3), Joey Cuddihy (0-2). Subs: Kevin Mullen for D.Mullen (46 mins), Eoin Reid for Shortall (46 mins), Stephen Barron for D.Corcoran (49 mins), Liam Barron for Cuddihy (52 mins), Dara Mason for Butler (53 mins).
Castletown-Geoghegan: Kieran Glennon; Naoise McKenna, Brandon Carey, Aaron Glennon; Conor Kane, Liam Varley, David Lynch; Plunkett Maxwell, Joe Clarke; Peter Clarke (0-2), Aonghus Clarke, Shane Clavin; Niall O’Brien (0-8, 0-5f), David O’Reilly, Jack Gallagher (0-5). Subs- Conor Murphy for O’Reilly (40 mins), Mick Heeney for J.Clarke (41 mins), Eoin Quinn for Carey (41 mins), Morgan Gavigan for Clavin (50 mins), Conor Lynch for A.Clarke (51 mins).
Referee: Patrick Murphy (Carlow)
