Joey Hanlon pleased with Buttevant's professional performance in big win over Shamrocks

It was an excellent performance from Buttevant in their first game in the AIB Munster Club JFC.

The recently crowned McCarthy Insurance Group Premier JFC winners romped to a 3-21 to 0-5 victory over Waterford side Shamrocks at the quarter-final stage at Cappoquin Logistics Fraher Field on Saturday afternoon.

While the quality of the opposition has to be taken into account, Buttevant were workmanlike and played what was in front of them. 

Buttevant boss Joey Hanlon was pleased with the application of his players.

“We are delighted with the win, professional is the word,” he said post-match in Dungarvan.

“That’s what we kind of were talking about all week, trying to be as professional as we can. Shamrocks, you know, they worked hard in fairness. We showed them great respect by playing the side we played and, yeah, delighted to play the way we did.

“This is new territory for us, so we didn’t really know what to expect. Traditionally, Cork teams do very well against the Waterford teams, but tradition goes out the window when you’re playing the game.

“To be honest, we weren’t very happy with the first half even though we led by 10 points at half-time. It wasn’t great, just sloppy in tough conditions, but the second half, the efficiency was pretty good.

“The lads kept going and, you know, they got a few goals, so that was a plus. They worked really hard in what were tiring conditions out there to be fair.

“We have a strong bench, so we were able to pull players off and the subs that came on made an impact.” 

Buttevant will now face Limerick side Ahane in the semi-final the weekend after next at a Cork venue.

They will have a far tougher test in that one than Saturday's facile win over the Waterford champions.

“Ahane will be very well organised,” the Buttevant boss says.

“They’ve some good Limerick U20s. We’ve a good bit of research done on them already, to be honest. You have to prepare and be ready for these things because two weeks is a quick enough turnaround. We’ll move on to that now. We’ll analyse them in greater detail and we will look forward to the game.

“The players are really embracing this journey. They’re loving the approach to it. And, you know, the county final is a distant memory and that’s great. We had brilliant support here today in Dungarvan.

“We’ve got great support from everyone in Buttevant parish. The panel of players have really generated that support through performances like today.” 

A fortnight to the Ahane battle is a positive for the Avondhu men. Captain Mark Lenahan went off injured early on against Shamrocks. They will need him the next day.

“We’re hoping Mark will be alright. Hard to say right now. Hopefully, he’s not too bad, but he’s in a bit of pain at the minute. Hopefully, it’s just a sprain, he got a knee into the hip. He's a big player for us, but, you know, I must say, it didn’t knock a stir out of us when he went off.

“We’ll have to see with Mark other than that we are all good, thank God, with regards to injuries.

“Everything else was just through fatigue, it was difficult conditions. Today showed the competition that we do have despite the comfortable victory. There are a few lads gone home, they’re disappointed they didn’t get game time.

“We have a fantastic panel who are all pushing each other.” Hanlon concluded.