Ballyhale Shamrocks' TJ Reid, Joey Holden, and Richie Reid celebrate at Croke Park.
By Cian O'Connell
Ultimately another AIB All-Ireland Club SHC culminated in glory for Ballyhale Shamrocks.
Nine national titles have been gleaned by the proud Kilkenny outfit with Joey Holden making a crucial contribution in Sunday's win over Dunloy at Croke Park.
"It feels unbelievable, it was a tough battle out there," Holden says. "It was maybe a scrappy game to look at, but in these games all you want to do is come out on top so we’re absolutely delighted to win our ninth club All-Ireland.
"It's outrageous really when you think about it, so I’m just buzzing."
Undoubtedly it was an emotional afternoon at GAA headquarters for Holden.
"Yeah, absolutely," Holden replies. "I suppose off the field it’s not simple, we’ve lost a lot of good people throughout the year, especially when I think of my own father and daddy passing, he would have loved to be here and he’d be buzzing with the result.
"But when you get on the field I suppose it’s a chance to express yourself and just forget about those things.
"Off the field you are thinking of them, but on the field you are playing for them and that’s what we do when we go out and we’re just delighted to get the win."
Holden now intends to travel for a spell again following Shamrocks success. "The plan is to go missing for a few days and then come back to reality and head off on Friday, so we’ll have a special few days celebrating with this great bunch of lads and enjoy every minute of it and then head on our way on Friday," he says.
"There has been a change of plan, we’re going to Mexico city starting off this time. Just with the weather and stuff it’s a better time to hit there, so we’ll start there and make our way down.
"There’s no flight home booked, we don’t know what way we are going to work it, but we’ll probably travel for seven or eight months.
"The funds will definitely be going dry at that stage so we’ll see how the body is and the minds are for travelling a bit more, but we haven’t planned that far ahead."
For now Ballyhale's triumph will be celebrated.
