Next weekend, it will be 19 years since TJ Reid began winning Kilkenny county titles. On Sunday, he neatly bookended his record 12 county medals with victory over O’Loughlin Gaels, the same opponents he had seen off as an 18-year-old in the 2006 final.
He scored a healthy 0-3 from play but top scorer for Ballyhale that day was Henry Shefflin, who was back in this year’s final as manager of the club, having started his second stint in charge at the beginning of this season.
The mantle of scorer-in-chief has long passed to Reid and once again, he delivered, keeping his head in the first half when it appeared as if all around him were losing theirs in a succession of inaccuracies.
After half-time, his influence spread from punishing tracking runs to supplement the defence to shooting further points, including two wonderfully taken from play.
RM Block
“Ah, yeah, 12, yeah!” he replied when asked had the 12th been the sweetest. “Look, it’s very hard to reflect on it, but I suppose being captain and getting 12, and then by the end of the summer becoming the top team in Kilkenny to win that many titles, so for a number of reasons it’s up there for sure.”
Only two clubs in the county – his own and Tullaroan – have acquired more titles. Mooncoin and Bennettsbridge each have the same number, 12.
Reid will be 38 in a couple of weeks but shows no sign of looking to slow down. His physical durability and famous gloved claw, seizing the dropping ball were in evidence on Sunday as well as his unflappable accuracy from the placed ball, which although not flawless was his team’s lifeline during a streaky first half.
He confirms his availability for the county. “At the moment, my journey’s with Ballyhale Shamrocks. If I’m picked for next year, I’m back in and as of now, I’m still part of the Kilkenny panel.”
Victory in the final marked a major rebound from a poor season 12 months ago. “Last year wasn’t good enough; the attitude wasn’t good enough, our values and our standards weren’t met, but look, the fire was back this year.
“To beat Castlecomer, beat Thomastown, beat Dicksboro with 14 men for probably 45 minutes, and then to beat O’Loughlin’s, you know, that’s an unbelievable rollercoaster, and the team that we have there, to come back again, you know, it’s exceptional.
“The work rate, the attitude that they have, the families, you see them all around there, you know, it’s unbelievable, and then obviously Henry and the boys came in this year ... obviously our hurling was probably a little bit crisper and sharper and faster, but he just brought another energy to it, new voice, new opinions, new ways of playing the game.”
The club that was founded in 1972 and won its first title six years later, is now top of the roll of honour, a remarkable return.
“Great families make great people,” he says, “and great people make great teams, and we had that over the last number of years.”
• On November 9th, Ballyhale Shamrocks face Kilcormac-Killoughey in the Leinster quarter-finals at UPMC Nowlan Park at 1.30pm.
