GAELIC GAMES:NOT FOR the first time in a national hurling final starring Kilkenny, the fairytale was suspended abruptly. What happened in yesterday's league final in Thurles does not change the fact that Cork's spring revolution under the guidance of Jimmy Barry-Murphy was a treat to watch. But when the day was done, Kilkenny were, once again, indomitable. In truth, the stripy men made mercilessly short work of a final which had received a lavish advance billing.
The neon scoreboard was lit with 3-21 to 0-16 on a cold pale Sunday and by then the crowd of 16,117 people had had plenty of chance to rehearse the full repertoire of standard lines that these unyielding Kilkenny performances generate.
“Strong all over the field.” “Ate ya alive.” “They don’t know how to stop.” “They’d give ya nothing.” The last observation was illustrated by David Herity’s fabulous save when Cork’s Cathal Naughton sought a late consolation goal as the spectators were heading for the exits and the cup was bedecked in black and amber ribbons. Not even in during those nothing seconds did Kilkenny’s concentration drop.
The relentlessness of their quest was evident too in TJ Reid’s quiet celebration of his last point in a haul of 1-2, when the contest was long over. As well as playing against Cork, the younger players on this Kilkenny side were playing with the incentive of a summer place in mind.
“Yeah. Exactly. I am 24 now and I’m pushing on,” said Reid. It seemed as if he was half-joking anyhow.
“I want to get a place on the team. Look, Brian always says when you get the jersey, give a hundred per cent and try and keep it for the championship. You have to perform well. You see Cillian Buckley there and Richie Doyle performing unreal.
“But I just try and get myself right and perform to my ability. We have had retirements and injuries so if you are given a chance, you have to take it.”
They all did. In the end, the retirement of heavily decorated players and the injuries to Messrs Shefflin and Power made no difference here.
“I didn’t even get around to thinking about the fellas that are missing,” smiled JBM late in the afternoon, when the only sound in Semple Stadium was of crows scrapping over scattered chips.
“It’s just a bit scary. The reality is that they are a super team and have been for the last 10 years.”
Kilkenny were terrific here. Eoin Larkin may see himself as a stop-gap full forward but he ran the show yesterday. Paul Murphy might have been the pick of the granite defensive unit: his goal-line stop from Luke O’Farrell’s close-range effort another example of their wonderful meanness.
They began the game with such sharpness and in-flow purpose that everyone was taken aback, including Cork’s young team.
Larkin’s fifth-minute goal was ominous: Colin Fennelly’s strike in the ninth minute was disastrous. It started when Brian Hogan tossed Pa Cronin aside and initiated an attack that was so swift in execution, the Rebels were left as spectators.
It was unnerving. The lovely, smooth style of hurling that they had demonstrated throughout the league deserted them here.
The veterans, most notably John Gardiner, did everything possible to make sure they kept body and soul together. But this was a harrowing experience for a young side.
“It is a big occasion for some of the guys making their debut on this kind of occasion – 15,000 people and up against Tommy Walsh and fellas like this,” said Seanie McGrath, a youngster himself during JBM’s first flush in 1999.
“You are playing against the greats, like. So you can understand why fellas are nervous. And surely guys will learn from that too. We can only coach them so much. But you can see in some or our play that we were nervous. Some of our decision-making was poor. We couldn’t have any qualms. We have to deal with their intensity. Their tackling was just ferocious.”
Conor Lehane, whose delightful attacking play lit up the spring, left the field without a score to his name. They hardly gave him room to swing his hurl.
“We had no space. It was very tough to play against and we will have to try and counteract that. That is the highest level that you can play against.”
Cork kept battling but it was a ghost final in the second half.
