Kilkenny SHC- Shamrocks coast to emphatic win over Thomastown

Shamrocks produced a excellent second half display as they brought an end to Thomastown’s reign as senior county champions on Sunday afternoon.

A Niall Shortall goal as well as big displays from Brian Cody who contributed five points from play, Eoin Cody and TJ Reid saw Henry Shefflin’s team overpower their local rivals in a surprisingly one sided quarter-final clash.

A tightly fought opening period gave hope to an end to end second half but once the Ballyhale side went up through the gears, Thomastown had no answer and the fact that their talisman John Donnelly failed to get on the scoresheet shows the defensive effort and shift that Shamrocks produced.

TJ Reid was again to the fore in the Shamrocks charge and he wasted little time to get involved in the game with a sweetly struck sideline cut and a converted free giving his side an early 0-2 to 0-0 lead.

Thomastown bounced back well though with successive efforts from Alex Cass, Robbie Donnelly and Stephen Donnelly ensuring they led by the minimum after eight minutes of action.

A spell of three points from the hurl of TJ Reid shifted the balance of power back in the Shamrocks direction but with Colm Treacy and Luke Connellan soon on target, there was nothing to separate them at the halfway mark of the half.

It was then tit for tat towards the end of the half until Shamrocks points via Darragh Corcoran, Brian Cody and Eoin Cody extended the lead for the South Kilkenny outfit.

A couple of Robbie Donnelly frees kept Thomastown in touch and if Colm Treacy had goaled instead of pulling a glorious chance wide then the belief would have only grown for the Grennan men.

Thomastown created another goal-scoring opportunity at the beginning of the second period but a Stephen Donnelly shot was well blocked down by Killian Corcoran.

From there it was all one way traffic as the Shamrocks registered seven of the next eight points with a Luke Connellan score the only solace for Thomastown.

Brian Cody and Niall Shortall were excellent throughout and they got the ball rolling before TJ Reid, Adrian Mullen and Liam Barron added to the tally and in very quick time, the game got away from Thomastown as they trailed 0-18 to 0-10.

Naoise Dempsey got a score off the bench but there was nothing to stop the Ballyhale train with TJ adding on another point from play before he delivered a pinpoint pass to Niall Shortall for the only goal of the game as the corner forward shot past Diarmuid Galway.

Thomastown kept plugging away but it was a day where they relied too much on the free-taking of Robbie Donnelly and with Kilkenny star John Donnelly expertly marshalled by Evan Shefflin, they ran out of ideas in the end. Shamrocks finished off with scores from the brotherly duo of Eoin and Brian Cody and in this form they will take a lot of stopping in the coming weeks.

Teams and Scorers

Shamrocks - TJ Reid (0-10, 6fs); Brian Cody (0-5); Niall Shortall (1-1); Eoin Cody (0-3); Liam Barron, Darragh Corcoran, Adrian Mullen (0-1 each)

Thomastown - Robbie Donnelly (0-9, 7fs and 1 ‘65); Luke Connellan (0-2); Colm Treacy, Stephen Donnelly, Peter McDonald, Alex Cass, Naoise Dempsey (0-1 each)

Shamrocks - Dean Mason; Killian Corcoran, Joey Holden, Brian Butler; Evan Shefflin, Richie Reid, Darragh Corcoran; Eoin Kenneally, Adrian Mullen; Liam Barron, Eoin Cody, TJ Reid; Stephen Barron, Brian Cody, Niall Shortall.

Subs: Paddy Mullen for S Barron, h-t; Dara Mason for Shefflin, 50 mins; John Fitzpatrick for L Barron, 55 mins; Conor Phelan for A Mullen, 59 mins.

Thomastown - Diarmuid Galway; Peter Connellan, Ned Kirwan, Alex Cass; Brian Staunton, Eddie Donnelly, Zach Bay Hammond; Rory Connellan, Peter McDonald; Robbie Donnelly, John Donnellan, Luke Connellan; Daithi Barron, Stephen Donnelly, Colm Treacy.

Subs: Naoise Dempsey for R Connellan, 38 mins; Thomas O’Hanrahan for Cass, 54 mins.

Referee - Owen Kenny (Tullogher-Rosbercon).