Two All-Ireland champions faced off in the opening game of the Kilkenny Senior Hurling League at Nowlan Park on Friday night
Senior champions Ballyhale Shamrocks and intermediate winners Tullaroan battled out to a pulsating draw - 1-21 to 2-18 - live on TG4.
Late in the game, Tullaroan stretched their lead to three points and looked like they were over the line. That was until Eoin Reid - with Padraig Walsh and Paul Buggy converging on him - found the net to level the match.
Reid had been found in a moment of coolness you would expect from the senior All-Ireland champions. Brian Cody manufactured some space with a superb piece of skill and then lobbed the sliotar towards TJ Reid near the square. Reid, surrounded by three Tullaroan defenders, had the awareness to pick out his older brother Eoin with a handpass.
"We got out of jail. It looked like Tullaroan's day," TJ Reid told TG4 after the game.
"It's the character of the team. We didn't drop our heads. We were three points down with only two minutes left. You could have easily made excuses and stopped hurling, but we didn't. It was great link-up play."
Cúl iontach 😍
An important score from Eoin Reid @BallyhaleGAA @GAA_BEO @KilkennyCLG @TullaroanHurlin #GAABEO pic.twitter.com/43OlXWmMJ9— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) July 31, 2020
The two sides had been level at half-time with 1-9 each on the scoreboard. At one stage in the second half, Tullaroan had led by four but twice they were reeled back in by Ballyhale.
"I'm stuck for words," Tommy Walsh (not the nine-time All-Ireland winner now playing at full-forward) said after the game.
"The goal shook us all. We still get a point - that's the positive thing - but it does feel like a loss.
"We're intermediate All-Ireland champions. We did come with belief. That first five or 10 minutes, we knew we had this. It was a bit of magic from TJ, the only man that could do it.
"It is a bit sickening."
Watch the Full-Time Highlights of Shamrocks v Tullaroan in Round 1 of the Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship here on GAANOW!
Full-Time Score:
Shamrocks: 2-18
Tullaroan: 1-21 pic.twitter.com/PNTczOunpe— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 31, 2020
