The tension is palpable.
Ballygunner and Shamrocks meet once again in Croke Park in an All Ireland Showcase, this time at the semi-final. Now the two sides have met in a semi-final before, back in the 2018–19 All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship season, with Shamrocks winning 1-15 to 0-13, before besting St. Thomas in the final. The next All Ireland though, was when the dramatic Harrdy Ruddle goal gunned down Shamrocks in the final, stopping the Kilkenny sides three in row aspirations.
See also: Have Ballyhale Shamrocks ever lost an All-Ireland semi-final?
Richie Reid recently spoke with KCLR ahead of the final, and he outlined how the players are well aware of the magnitude of the game;
Great fun today at #MaxolKilkenny on the Dublin Road to celebrate their brand new store! 🤩🤩🤩 and check out the hampers they have at #MaxolKillenny 😍 To be in with a chance to win one throughout the week – make sure you pop into their new store and say hello! 👋🏽 @TheMaxolGroup pic.twitter.com/JwxhfaFhyW
— KCLR 96FM (@kclr96fm) December 17, 2022
“It’s a big day in Croke Park tomorrow, so we’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be a massive game so, hopefully, we can get a big performance and get the result then.”
“We’ve trained harder the last couple of weeks and I suppose after the Leinster final we were disappointed with our result. So we’re really looking forward to this test now, it’s a hard-earned semi-final, we’re playing the defending champions, so hopefully, we can just get a big performance now”
“It would be a nice lead into Christmas. “
Tomorrow ahead of the final on Scoreline we will be hearing from both Joey Holden and Shane O’Sullivan for our last game of the year, starting at 2 pm.
