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Henry Shefflin condemns 'unsavoury scenes' after clash on pitch at Nowlan Park

Players from both sides clashed at the final whistle
Players from both sides clashed at the final whistle

Ballyhale Shamrocks boss Henry Shefflin and Kilcormac-Killoughey manager Declan Laffan both condemned a melee between their teams after their Leinster club SHC quarter-final in UPMC Nowlan Park.

Players from both teams jostled each other following the final whistle, before a supporter wearing a Kilcormac jersey ran onto the pitch.

Gardaí subsequently confirmed to RTÉ that a man in his 40s had been arrested and charged "following a public order incident".

Shamrocks' Shefflin, whose team had fought back from a half-time deficit to win, told RTÉ Sport: "I'm delighted with the second-half performance [but] not very happy with the unsavoury scenes we saw at the end, unfortunately.

"That's very disappointing that a club like Ballyhale were involved in that. I'm sure Kilcormac would feel the exact same way.

"No place for it in the game and I'm just very disappointed with that."

Kilcormac-Kilkloughey bainisteoir Laffan said: "I know the tackle obviously instigated it, but probably a lot of frustration, and somebody came in out of the crowd and nobody wants to see that.

"Whatever happens on the field, whether the players are going at it or whatever, leave them at it and it'll play itself out. Unfortunately, we can't control everybody.

"The one thing I'd say from Kilcormac-Killoughey's point of view, that's not them as a club and it's the same for Ballyhale.

"It's not a true representation of both clubs. Unfortunately, it just happened and we have to move on."

The 13-time Leinster champions, with All-Ireland winning player and manager Shefflin back in charge, trailed 1-10 to 0-10 at the interval after Adam Screeney's penalty.

But Ballyhale almost doubled their opponents' tally in the second half, to win 0-25 to 1-18 and set up a provincial semi-final against Clough-Ballacolla in two weeks' time.

9 November 2025; Niall Shortall of Shamrocks Ballyhale is tackled by Cillian Kiely of Kilcormac-Killoughey during the AIB Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Club Championship quarter-final match between Shamrocks Ballyhale and Kilcormac-Killoughey at UMPC Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. Photo by Ray McManus/Sport
Niall Shortall of Shamrocks Ballyhale (L) is tackled by Cillian Kiely of Kilcormac-Killoughey

"The first half [was only] OK and I probably half expected that after the county final," said Shefflin.

"I think they handled TJ [Reid] and Niall [Shortall] and Paddy [Mullen] inside pretty well and we didn't get many shots on Conor [Slevin, Kilcormac goalkeeper].

"But I thought second half they played very well and 15 points to eight was a reflection on how we performed.

"Kilcormac obviously came down here to do a job and they performed very well. They're a lovely hurling side.

"I thought, come the second half, we'd hopefully respond and I feel we did that pretty well.

"Adrian [Mullen] and Ronan [Corcoran] had a big impact in the middle third and Dean [Mason] hit some wonderful puckouts as well."

"We should have been another four or five up at half-time"

Laffan rued what he called Kilcormac-Killoughey's "poor wides versus a lot of theirs. Our wides were, I won't say free shots, but I probably felt we should have been another four or five up at half-time and really put them under the cosh.

"But when we went in only three [ahead] and then they got control, we kind of lost our steam a little bit, because we had put in such huge effort in the first half.

"And then I suppose I thought there was a couple of dubious calls at bad times. But look, some days you get them, some days you don't."

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