Cody and Fennelly lead the way in heavy defeat for Castletown

Despite being short the services of their marquee player in six-time All Star TJ Reid, Ballyhale Shamrocks proved much too strong for Castletown Geoghegan in what was a very disappointing afternoon for the very well-supported Westmeath Examiner Cup champions in pleasant conditions in Kilkenny last Sunday afternoon.

Yes, the visitors were themselves missing an important duo from their recent successful Lake County campaign in Johnny Bermingham and Mick Heeney (who played the last 21 minutes), but there is no disguising the fact that a 25-point defeat was significantly heavier than many had expected, albeit against the side widely regarded as the best in the land. In truth, there was never the slightest hint of a mega-shock akin to Naas’ victory 24 hours earlier against Shinrone.

For a change, a team in black and amber-striped jerseys were deemed the ‘enemy’ in UPMC Nowlan Park, and the famous colours were in abundance on the day. They had reason to roar on their heroes as early as the first minute when skipper Niall O’Brien converted a 55-metre free.

However, they would never lead again with Colin Fennelly kicking the sliotar to the net at the other end some two minutes later. Eoin Kenneally and Ronan Corcoran added points by the sixth minute.

The massive underdogs were faring quite well at this stage, and the sides equally shared eight points by the end of the opening quarter. O’Brien (a free), Jack Gallagher (a brace from the lively corner forward who went on to have a fine game) and Peter Clarke (a great solo score) were on target for Alan Mangan’s troops, with Killian Corcoran (two great scores), Eoin Cody (a difficult free) and Joey Cuddihy finding the range for the Kilkenny men.

Ballyhale then tagged on an amazing three points in a little over a minute from the sticks of Adrian Mullen, Cody and Fennelly. The losers responded with an O’Brien free and a neat point from Gallagher, but the men in white and green pounced for 1-3 without reply between the 24th and 26th minutes – the three-pointer from Niall Shortall (after Kieran Glennon had done very well to keep out Cody’s initial goalbound shot), and the points from Cody (a free), Mullen and Shortall.

Peter Clarke scored a terrific long-range point for the losers, before a point exchange between Cody (a free) and O’Brien (from long range) rounded off first half scoring. Ballyhale led by 2-13 to 0-9 at the break.

Castletown started the second moiety brightly with two unanswered points from O’Brien (the first from a free). Indeed, they also spurned 1-2 from three great chances – the ‘goal’ missed by Peter Clarke in the 33rd minute.

However, any lingering hopes of a Lazarus-like comeback evaporated when the home side scored 2-2 without reply by the end of the third quarter – Fennelly and Cody netting in quick succession, prior to Cody (a free) and Ronan Corcoran raising white flags, leaving Shamrocks ahead by 4-15 to 0-11.

It was now damage limitation for Castletown who, in fairness, never threw in the towel in the face of adversity. Despite some untypical profligacy from the All-Ireland finalists, they still outscored the Westmeath champions by 1-10 to 0-4 in the closing quarter.

The goal came from Cody in the 57th minute, moments after Glennon had again come to his side’s rescue with a brave save from Kenneally. The ten points were shared between Shortall, Killian Corcoran, Cuddihy, Fennelly (two), Evan Shefflin, and Cody (four, including three frees).

A brace each from O’Brien (the first from a free) and Gallagher wrapped up the losers’ tally on an afternoon when the gulf in class between the respective county champions was, sadly, all too evident.

Scorers – Ballyhale Shamrocks: E Cody 2-9 (0-7f), C Fennelly 2-3, N Shorthall 1-2, K Corcoran 0-3, R Corcoran, J Cuddihy, A Mullen 0-2 each, E Shefflin, E Kenneally 0-1 each. Castletown Geoghegan: N O'Brien 0-8 (5f), J Gallagher 0-5, P Clarke 0-2.

Ballyhale Shamrocks: Dean Mason; Darrren Mullen, Joey Holden, Brian Butler; Evan Shefflin, Richie Reid, Darragh Corcoran; Ronan Corcoran, Killian Corcoran; Adrian Mullen, Eoin Cody, Joey Cuddihy; Eoin Kenneally, Colin Fennelly, Niall Shorthall. Subs used: Kevin Mullen for D Mullen (47), Eoin Reid for Shorthall (47), Stephen Barron for D Corcoran (50), Liam Barron for Cuddihy (53), Dara Mason for Butler (53).

Castletown Geoghegan: Kieran Glennon; David Lynch, Naoise McKenna, Aaron Glennon; Conor Kane, Liam Varley, Brandon Carey; Plunkett Maxwell, Joe Clarke; Peter Clarke, Aonghus Clarke, Shane Clavin; Niall O'Brien, David O'Reilly, Jack Gallagher. Subs used: Conor Murphy for O'Reilly (41), Mick Heeney for J Clarke (42), Eoin Quinn for Carey (42), Morgan Gavigan for Clavin (51), Conor Lynch for A Clarke (53).

Ref: Patrick Murphy (Carlow).