A FANTASTIC second-half comeback by Ballyhale Shamrocks ensured the reigning Leinster champions booked their spot in the All Ireland senior hurling club final on St Patrick's Day following a hard-earned threepoint victory at Portlaoise.

Toomevara looked like certain winners in this game following a pulsating opening half after which they had earned an eight-point lead, having found the net on three occasions.

However, Ballyhale Shamrocks came back strongly in this game and an Eoin Reid goal just before the interval helped kickstart a comeback from his side.

The Tipperary men certainly lived up to their 'greyhound' tag and came out of the blocks strongly in the opening quarter with midfielder Francis Devaney scoring the first of two opening half points after just 16 seconds. Ballyhale matched their Tipperary counterparts well in the opening four minutes but suddenly Toomevara had no problems in finding the back of the net from all angles.

Half-forward Eoin Brislane was the first to rock the ball past James Connolly in the fifth minute with a bullet of a shot to the right corner of the net. This was followed up 50 seconds later with a Paddy O'Brien goal from 21 metres out. Toomevara were firmly in the driving seat at this stage and added points from Francis Devaney and Ken Dunne before John Delaney found the net for Toomevara as the Tipperary side held a 3-4 to 0-4 advantage midway through the half.

Ballyhale continued to pick off points from Henry Shefflin and Eoin Reid but Toomevara quickly built up a 12-point cushion thanks to good work from Ken Dunne and Willie Ryan. However, an Eoin Reid goal brought signs of a comeback from Ballyhale Shamrocks before the interval.

The Leinster champions certainly came out stronger in the second half and although Toomevara had good chances for scores, they were unable to find the target with seven wides in an 11minute spell after the restart.

Ballyhale took their scores well from Henry Shefflin, man of the match James 'Cha' Fitzpatrick and Eoin Reid to cut the gap to four points.

The Kilkenny side continued to pile on the pressure and when midfielder Fitzpatrick found the net, many in the 8,500 crowd sprung to their feet. Toomevara had been reduced to 14 men at this point with a straight red card for Tommy Dunne and this saw Ballyhale continue to pick up their form, securing the lead for the first time in the game on the hour mark before points from James Fitzpatrick and Henry Shefflin sealed a hard fought win.

James 'Cha' Fitzpatrick was thrilled with the performance of his side. "It was an unbelievable game of hurling to be involved in, " he said.

"We were very worried at half-time, but we knew that there is great character in this team, which we have showed already in the campaign.

"Thankfully that was the case also today. Toomevara opened us up a lot in the opening half and it worked for them with three goals. They always say a good start is half the battle and it certainly was. But there's two halves in a game and the second one proved to be the one which counted for us."

Toomevara manager Pat Herbert was disgusted with the sending off of influential forward Tommy Dunne in the second half.

"A Ballyhale defender came to me after the game and said that Tommy didn't deserve to be sent off, " Herbert said.

"I'm particularly annoyed with the Munster Council, who failed to do anything with the appeal from Paul McGrath who was sent off in an unofficial game a few weeks ago.

"He was unavailable for us and to find ourselves at the mercy of the Munster Council, and us going out to represent Munster today, is appaling."

BALLYHALE SHAMROCKS J Connolly; P Shef"in, E Walsh, P Holden; K Nowlan, A Cummins, B Aylward; J Fitzpatrick (1-4), M Fennelly; E Fitzpatrick, H Shef"in (0-9, 6f), TJ Reid (0-2); E Reid (1-2), P Reid (0-2), M Aylward Subs D Hoyne (0-1) for E Fitzpatrick, 34 mins; C Fennelly for Aylward, 42 mins TOOMEVARA J McGrath; Barry Dunne, T Delaney, D Young; T Dunne, Benny Dunne, J McLoughney; F Devaney (0-3), K Dunne (0-5, 4f, 1 65); M Bevins, E Brislane (1-0), T Dunne;

P O'Brien (1-4), J Delaney (1-1), W Ryan (0-1).

Subs B McCormack for Devaney, 56-60, blood Referee E Morris (Dublin)