WATCH OUT OR YOU'LL KOP IT

Reid warns Ballyhale teammates to keep sharp to avoid a Liverpool-style slump

- BY GARRY DOYLE

TJ REID admits that Ballyhale Shamrocks are always on the lookout to avoid a Liverpool-style meltdown.

The Kilkenny kingpins edged past Clough-Ballacolla in a bruising Leinster semifinal on Sunday to reach the NINTH provincial club final of Reid's career.

Throw in everything else he has won - the seven All-Irelands including one as a sub, 14 Leinsters and seven All Stars with Kilkenny, the six All-Ireland club titles with Ballyhale - and youd wonder how he is still hungry.

And then he tells you.

The 38-year-old said: "Winning is a mentality and when you win you don't want to lose sight of it.

"We have seen it this year with Liverpool in the Premier League. Champions last year, this year it is not working out for them. When you are winning, try and win as much as you can, that's my attitude. We don't reflect on last year or the year before. We are very much in the now, in the present, what you can achieve.

"We have a Leinster final in two weeks time and if we can win that then we have a great chance then to try and win the All-Ireland.

Clough-Ballacolla, the Laois champions, made sure Ballyhale had to earn it, fighting back to level the game with four minutes left before Reid led the charge down the stretch as Shamocks won by three.

He said: "It wasn't pretty, it probably wasn't a great game. It was real winter hurling, the ball stuck in rucks and it wasn't moving as fast. But we slogged it out.