Ballyhale Shamrocks manager Maurice Aylward admitted that he was relieved to hear the final whistle go after James Stephens put in a tremendous fight back in the second half of yesterday's Kilkenny county final at Nowlan Park. Shamrocks looked to be cruising to their third consecutive title as they held a commanding seven point lead at half time, but they had to dig deep to resist the challenge of the village in the second half. "Maybe the Village threw it at us, I don't know. Our rhythm went, our shape went. We just couldn't get going. Maybe if it went on another five or six minutes we could have added as many points. As it was, the Village half-back line was outstanding, we just had no answer." "When you are seven points up after playing against a strong breeze maybe it gives you a false impression for the second half. We felt in the dressing room at half time that we had a lot of the hard work done but that we'd go out and really finish it off. It didn't happen for us. "It often happens like that, maybe the pressure of three-in-a-row got to us but we're going to have to improve a lot if we are going to win a Leinster title," he admitted. "This team wants to make their own history so the three-in-a-row was important. It's wonderful, especially in the year that Kilkenny won three-in-a-row. "But if they had got a goal we would have been in serious trouble. Maybe it was the best thing that happened. We were 1/8 with the bookies in a two-horse race. It was ridiculous," concluded Aylward. Tweet

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