Shane Walsh stars for The Sash as his side nab a 6 point victory over Ballyhale Shamrocks.
10 minutes into this Round 5 clash in the Kilkenny Hurling League, it seemed that Tullaroan’s destiny had been decided as they trailed the reining county champions by 8 points.
However, the 2nd quarter saw Tullaroan settle and once they got motoring, they never looked back.
Brian Cody was the first to register a score for the Shamrocks, followed swiftly by county men TJ Reid and Adrian Mullen.
Having raised a white flag, Reid fancied his chances at raising a green one and when the defense prematuring set up for the puck out, assuming he would go for a point, the star forward took full advantage and rattled the net.
After 11 minutes, Ballyhale led 1-6 to Tullaroan’s 1 point.
When their backs were against the wall, The Tullaroan men stood up with Shane Walsh being the stand-out player.
The youngest of the Walsh brothers made use of every ball he got on and starred from wing forward.
Unlike Shamrocks, Tullaroan didn’t depend on their marque talismen with a good spread of scores coming from all over the field.
Tullaroan battled against the wind to bring the game to level scores at halftime. At the break, the scoreboard read Shamrocks 1-11, Tullaroan 0-14.
2nd Half
Tullaroan came into the second half with the same level of intensity shown in the 2nd quarter of the first half.
Padraig Walsh in particular showed particular vigor as he lunged at every ball that came his way.
John Walton was another man that could do no wrong in Callan, striking 3 from play.
It was tick for tat in the opening stages of the 2nd half and after 7 minutes, Tullaroan went 3 clear of the Kilkenny champions.
All but one of the Tullaroan forwards scored but that’s not to ignore the contribution of their defense.
Notably, the 2021 young hurler of the year Eoin Cody was held scoreless for a significant portion of the game.
In true Shamrocks fashion, they continued to fight and narrowed the gap back to 1 point with 10 minutes to go but Tullaroan were resourceful when they needed to be and tightened up their defense to prevent a Ballyhale comeback.
The game ended Ballyhale Shamrocks 2-16, Tullaroan 28 points.
Tullaroan now march on to a League Final in 2 weeks time.
