ALL-IRELAND SHC SEMI-FINAL/KILKENNY 1-23 CORK 0-17:IN THE END there was no second coming, no chinks in the armour and no arguments. GAA All-Ireland hurling champions Kilkenny displayed no weaknesses and justified no reservations. Cork were a shadow of the side that had provided Kilkenny with their greatest rivalry in this most successful of decades but just as in their unhindered march through Leinster Brian Cody's team rendered all questions about their status purely hypothetical.
After Cork's exploits in the qualifiers there was a vast public appetite - reflected in the larger than expected crowd of over 70,000 - for a contest and the coming together of the two ancient rivals with pre-eminence on the All-Ireland roll of honour at stake was eagerly anticipated.
Unfortunately Cork had gone to the well once too often and the raging resistance that had turned around the matches against Clare and Galway appeared to leave them drained. Even with a full tank it's likely that the ageing process would have undermined their challenge but it was a disappointment that the match never really looked competitive after the first quarter.
There was one individual cameo of redemption with Diarmuid O'Sullivan shrugging off the crisis of form and confidence that has beset him this summer to deliver his best display of the year. The ball ran for him on a couple of occasions - as it hadn't really up to yesterday - but he took full advantage to see off scoreless both Martin Comerford and Richie Power.
O'Sullivan was involved in one of the high points of Cork's afternoon, winning a high ball in the 18th minute and passing to Seán Ó hAilpín whose quick transfer set up Jerry O'Connor for a point and a lead of 0-5 to 0-4.
As happened frequently during the match, Kilkenny hit back to equalise with a free from Henry Shefflin and when Tom Kenny re-established the Cork lead, that proved to be the zenith of the team's challenge.
Even when the first quarter was unfolding, tense and on a trip-wire, as an edgy and claustrophobic encounter, there were signs that Cork were struggling to stay in the match. Whereas their touch was hesitant and their play at times laboured Kilkenny looked sharp and energetic. Only some early uncharacteristic wides prevented the champions from translating that superiority on to the scoreboard.
Cork made a couple of encouraging incisions but lacked the real cut to maximise the wound and overall Cork were struggling to live with the strength and ebullience of the champions. From an early stage it was becoming apparent that in key match-ups things were looking ominous. Noel Hickey quickly got to grips with Joe Deane, whose form resurrection was such a key element in the thrilling win over Galway, and if the alarm bells rang JJ Delaney, who was keeping Cork's top forward Ben O'Connor scoreless, was on hand to lend assistance.
On one occasion in the 32nd minute Deane attempted to pick up a loose ball in front of goal and flick over a point in the way he used to do in his sleep. Instead Tommy Walsh was on him and blocked the shot.
This almost preternatural level of support play was to be seen all around the field. Time after time Cork players found themselves isolated in possession with three or four opponents hungrily circling them.
Apart from very sporadically the challengers couldn't find the space they needed to launch their running game and try to get Kilkenny on to the back foot. Up until the 21st minute there remained at least the hope of a competitive match if Cork could stay in touch and disrupt their opponents.
Instead the match entered its decisive phase in the quarter of an hour or so before half-time. There was little warning that such major movement was imminent but during that period the champions outscored Cork by 1-7 to 0-1.
With Cork not getting the room to release their runners from centrefield James Fitzpatrick and Derek Lyng controlled the middle.
The scoring charge was led by Aidan Fogarty, reproducing the form that made him man of the match in the 2006 All-Ireland final against Cork, and Eoin Larkin whose goal on the half-hour suddenly opened up a discernible gap on the scoreboard.
It was a product of one of Kilkenny's most noticeable areas of expertise, the ability to pick up possession off the rucks that formed around the field when players were caught in possession.
On this occasion with too many Cork players committed Larkin popped up and a wide avenue to goal opened up in front of him. His finish was precise and powerful.
Eddie Brennan also came into the match and clipped a couple of scores. By the time Ben O'Connor converted a free just before half-time for 0-7 to 1-12 it was Cork's first score in 16 minutes and the match had effectively ended.
Cork were too proud to drop their hands and walk away and in the third quarter they made genuine inroads to reduce the deficit to five after Shefflin had stretched the lead to 10 immediately after half-time. The suspicion was, however, that Kilkenny were idling rather than under serious threat.
An ominous turnover of possesion from Ronan Curran ended up in Brennan scoring the point that restored the lead to six in the 55th minute and Cork's comeback was losing momentum.
The familiar short puck-out style wasn't working because the team just lacked the snap and touch to move the ball dexterously. For a while the strategy changed to one of bombing Patrick Cronin on the left wing but with little tangible effect.
Cork tried to engineer a goal but Kilkenny were too clinical with the chances that came their way. Shefflin hit frees and celebrated the return to his protean self by razzing up the team and crowd from time to time.
By the end of the match Kilkenny were still pulling away with two scores in injury-time from replacement TJ Reid and Fogarty.
There was an incident before the end when Kilkenny captain James Fitzpatrick had to be stretchered off - he appeared to have recovered after the match — but nothing was going to disrupt the triumphant march of his team.
As Kilkenny move within a match of a historic three-in-a-row a topical symposium on the GAA and society will take place this evening in the Hotel Kilkenny at 6pm. Speakers include Dr Seán Crosson (NUI, Galway, whose research includes the history of the representation of Gaelic games in film) and Dr William Murphy (Mater Dei Institute of Education, DCU), who is co-founder of Sports History Ireland and whose research includes the GAA and the Irish revolution. Admission is €13.
KILKENNY: 1 PJ Ryan; 2 M Kavanagh, 3 N Hickey, 4 J Tyrrell; 5 T Walsh, 6 B Hogan, 7 JJ Delaney; 8 J Fitzpatrick capt (0-1), 9 D Lyng (0-1); 14 H Shefflin (0-9, five frees, one 65), 13 R Power, 12 E Larkin (1-2); 10 E Brennan (0-4), 11 M Comerford, 15 A Fogarty (0-4). Subs: 26 W O'Dwyer (0-1) for Comerford (54 mins), 27 TJ Reid (0-1) for Power (60 mins), 25 M Rice for Fitzpatrick (69 mins).
CORK: 1 D Cusack; 2 S O'Neill, 3 D O'Sullivan, 4 B Murphy; 5 J Gardiner capt (0-1), 6 R Curran, 7 S Ó hAilpín; 8 T Kenny (0-2), 9 J O'Connor (0-1); 10 B O'Connor (0-8, all frees), 11 N McCarthy, 12 P Cronin (0-1); 13 C Naughton (0-1), 14 J Deane, 15 P Horgan (0-1). Subs: 28 K Murphy for Deane (half-time), 23 T McCarthy (0-1) for N McCarthy (42 mins), 29 N Ronan (0-1, free) for Horgan (62 mins), 30 P O'Sullivan for Naughton (65 mins).
YELLOW CARDS: Kilkenny: none. Cork: D O'Sullivan (50 mins). RED CARDS: None.
Referee: M Wadding (Waterford).
Attendance: 71,235.
