'No place for it in the game' - Ballyhale manager Henry Shefflin speaks out after 'unsavoury' ending to game

Henry Shefflin was quick to condone the ‘unsavoury’ scenes that overshadowed his side’s win in the Leinster senior hurling club championships.

Sunday’s game had ended in a win for Ballyhale over Kilcormac-Killoughey when a fan of the Offaly team made his way on to the field of play and aimed punches at Shamrocks players.

“I’m very disappointed that we were involved in it, and I’m sure Kilcormac feel the exact same way,” the Shamrocks manager said in the aftermath of Sunday afternoon’s win.

“It was unsavoury, we absolutely condone it,” he added. “I’m disappointed we were involved in such a situation because the match was over - we didn’t need to get dragged into something like that.”

The Shamrocks had come through a tough test to get the better of Kilcormac-Killoughey in UPMC Nowlan Park, but just as the final whistle blew the teams became involved in an on-field scuffle which took a turn when the supporter got involved.

“It’s not right,” Shefflin said of the incident. “My own kids were there and they were running down towards us - I was like ‘what is going on here?’ It was out of control - there’s no place for it whatsoever in the game.”

While Gardaí were called into action, Shefflin felt the incident took attention away from a game which the sides had played fairly.

“It’s very hard to control a situation like that - we all agree on that,” he said. “Kilcormac are a fabulous hurling team and I think we like to play hurling the right way as well, so it’s disappointing that this incident is probably what people will be talking about.”