Ballyhale Shamrocks forward Mark Aylward admits it is not easy being an impact sub, even though many are envious of his medal haul.

On St Patrick’s Day, Aylward as has been the case all year was introduced as a second half substitute and as always he managed to get on the scoresheet as Ballyhale cruised to a seventh All-Ireland club SHC title.

Aylward has four of those titles in his back pocket following wins in 2007, 2010, 2015 and of course last Sunday’s emphatic win over Galway side St Thomas'.

“It is not easy knowing you are not going to start,” Aylward told the Kilkenny People. “I am 33 now so maybe I am not destined to be a starter anymore.

“My job is to come on and hopefully lift things if they are not going well. There was no lifting needed against St Thomas'.”

On his medal haul he said: “I’m not doing too bad. I got game time in them all and I scored in them all. I suppose that’s not a bad thing to be able to say.”

Join the hoganstand.com match tracker on Sunday afternoon for live coverage of the final round of the football leagues, plus the hurling league semi-finals at Nowlan Park.

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