TJ REID HAS conjured up plenty moments of brilliance in his hurling career but it\u2019s difficult to think of something more sensational or dramatic as his intervention today in Semple Stadium.<\/p>\n
\n TJ Reid with St Thomas manager Kenneth Burke after the game.<\/p>\n
Source: Laszlo Geczo\/INPHO<\/p>\n
The Ballyhale Shamrocks dream of landing three-in-a-row in the All-Ireland club hurling championship was on the verge of ending, when Reid sized up a free deep into injury-time with his team two points down.<\/p>\n
Just like he had less than ten minutes previously from a penalty, Reid found the net with a powerful strike, this time clinching a narrow win as Ballyhale dragged themselves clear of defeat.<\/p>\n
\n#TJReid \u2618\ufe0f \ud83d\ude38 \ud83d\udc10#GAABeo #TheToughest @KilkennyCLG @BallyhaleGAA <\/p>\n
pic.twitter.com\/NcnNOnfM8i<\/p>\n
— Sp\u00f3rt TG4 (@SportTG4) January 23, 2022<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cI think that was my first free outside of a penalty scoring (a goal), so not a bad place I suppose to start,\u201d Reid told TG4 after the game.<\/p>\n
\nAdvertisement<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cBul look, pure luck, I asked the ref what was left and he said, \u201830 seconds\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I said to myself I just have to hit this as hard as I could and lucky enough it went in. I had only one option to strike the ball as hard as I could. It went through a few bodies there. Look it\u2019s pure delight and number one relief.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWe didn't perform well as a team, we'll be disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smaoint\u00ed TJ Reid tar \u00e9is an cluiche.@GAA_BEO @BallyhaleGAA #GAABEO #TheToughest pic.twitter.com\/apIVfZkPdF<\/p>\n
— Sp\u00f3rt TG4 (@SportTG4) January 23, 2022<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Reid paid tribute to the challenge St Thomas posed, a vastly different scenarion from that which Ballyhale encountered three years ago when cruising past the Galway opponents in the All-Ireland decider.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut look we\u2019re relieved, just seeing a few images of St Thomas there, I suppose tears in their eyes, disheartened. Going back to 2019 we beat them, so they were coming here with huge motivation and they did that, they fought us to the bitter end.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t perform well as a team, we\u2019d be very disappointed with that. But look, out of jail and looking forward to three weeks. Didn\u2019t link up as a team as much, that\u2019s down to St Thomas, their pure work rate all over the field and just blessed we got a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n TJ Reid celebrates after the game with his brother Richie.<\/p>\n
Source: Laszlo Geczo\/INPHO<\/p>\n
While Ballyhale\u2019s performance was not as free-flowing as we have been accustomed to witness, Reid was pleased to see their resilience remained intact.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI suppose we\u2019re on the road a long time and for me the main ingredient is hunger. It wasn\u2019t perfect today but the hunger was there, the resilience was there, the work ethic was there to keep going and we did that. It wasn\u2019t pretty. I\u2019m sure the majority of us will be disappointed looking back on the game, we didn\u2019t perform. I know St Thomas are in the same boat but we had five weeks off, little bit stale, little bit rusty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next up is an All-Ireland final clash with Waterford neighbours Ballygunner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Ballygunner, they\u2019re only 20 minutes away from Ballyhale. They want an All-Ireland final, they\u2019ve been training for this and hurling for the last seven years. They\u2019ve seven or eight county finals in a row and I\u2019ve no doubt that they want this one. Look a very good team, 2019 I think we beat them as well, they\u2019re coming with pure motivation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat hunger is going to be massive. For ourselves, the talk was of Ballyhale Ballygunner in the All-Ireland final, maybe that sunk in to us, maybe we were a little bit complacent today. But look I think tunnel vision now for Ballygunner because they are a serious outfit.\u201d<\/p>\n
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