Kilkenny SHC- Shamrocks send out big warning with facile victory

Shamrocks were in ruthless mode as they swatted aside the Clara challenge in a very one-sided refixed senior hurling championship quarter-final on Sunday afternoon.

The reigning county champions were never in any real danger of a game that they completely dominated and like in their opening championship success over Glenmore, their firepower up front took them away on the scoreboard rather quickly.

Adrian Mullen and Eoin Cody have both been in fantastic form for the Shamrocks and that didn’t stop on Sunday as they scored 1-13 between them and all of it from play.

Mullen’s goal which arrived in the 9th minute gave his side an early five point lead and from that point on it was all one way traffic.

The double score success was emphatic in the extreme but one worry for the Shamrocks will be their adding injury list.

Already without the likes of Brian Cody and Darren Mullen, the sight of Paddy Mullen going off with a suspected hamstring injury before half-time would have been a bit of a headache for Shamrocks boss Pat Hoban.

With only a six day turnaround to the meeting with Tullaroan in the semi-finals, it looks very unlikely that the marauding midfielder will be fit to feature.

From a Clara point of view, they will be very disappointed with their performance and although Shamrocks were much changed from when the teams met in the opening round of the league, the fact they failed to mount any sort of challenge will irk them over the course of the winter.

It was an even enough start as the sides shared the first four points with early Shamrocks efforts from TJ Reid and Eoin Cody cancelled out by David Langton and John Murphy.

The five in a row chasing Shamrocks then scored 1-3 without reply over the following five minutes with points from Reid and Adrian Mullen arriving before Mullen scored the game’s only goal.

The Kilkenny star took advantage of a terrible mix up between Clara’s Jack Langton and Kevin Nolan and when the goalkeeper dropped the sliotar, Mullen was perfectly placed to fire to an empty net.

Mullen then added another point in the 10th minute and even at that early stage, it looked game over as Shamrocks led 1-5 to 0-2.

Clara replied via John Murphy and a series of Jason Byrne frees but Shamrocks were ramping up the pressure at this stage Cody, Paddy Mullen and Darragh Corcoran all finding the target from distance.

The defending champions also had a couple more goal chances that were well saved by Kevin Nolan and while the respectability was still on the scoreboard, the game was over as a contest at the break with Shamrocks leading 1-16 to 0-9.

The second half turned into something of a non-event with Clara failing to really challenge the champions at any stage and their six point second half tally told its own story.

Shamrocks on the other hand kept at it with Cody, Mullen and Colin Fennelly all pointing from all angles and with the possibility of playing three matches in three weeks if they are to retain their title, they emptied the bench over the course of the second half.

Ominously for the likes of Tullaroan and possibly James Stephens, TJ Reid has been relatively quiet in the two championship victories thus far yet it hasn’t impacted on their performances whatsoever.

The star studded cast of the Shamrocks will get their biggest test this weekend though as they face a Tullaroan side who will fancy their chances of knocking the champions off their perch.

Teams & Scorers

Shamrocks - Adrian Mullen (1-7); Eoin Cody (0-6); TJ Reid (0-6, 0-4 frees, 0-1 65); Darragh Corcoran, Colin Fennelly (0-3 each); Evan Shefflin, Paddy Mullen (0-1 each).

Clara - Jason Byrne (0-4, four frees); Liam Ryan (0-4); John Murphy, Conor O’Shea (0-2 each); Chris Bolger, Matt Kenny, David Langton (0-1 each).

Shamrocks - Dean Mason; Killian Corcoran, Joey Holden, Brian Butler; Evan Shefflin, Richie Reid, Darragh Corcoran; Ronan Corcoran, Paddy Mullen; Adrian Mullen, TJ Reid, Eoin Cody; Eoin Kenneally, Colin Fennelly, Niall Shortall.

Subs: Joey Cuddihy for P Mullen 28 mins, Eoin Reid for Shortall 50 mins, Liam Barron for R Corcoran 50 mins, Stephen Barron for Butler 56 mins.

Clara - Kevin Nolan; Bill Carrigan, Jack Langton, Sean O’Shea; Shane Staunton, David Langton, Matt Kenny; Conor O’Shea, Martin O’Connell; Paul Cody, John Murphy, Liam Ryan; Dara Glynn, Jason Byrne, Chris Bolger.

Subs- Liam Ryan for O’Connell h-t, Conor Cody for Glynn h-t, Tom Ryan for Byrne 49 mins, Evan Whearty for Kenny 53 mins.

Referee - Peter Burke (Emeralds).