[caption id="attachment_71478" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Kilkenny's Paul Murphy fields a high ball under pressure from Cork’s Luke O'Farrell, who in turn is being challenged by Jackie Tyrrell. "]
Cork hurling manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy could only shake his head in disappointment and a certain amount of disbelief as he tried to come to terms with last Sunday’s 3-21 to 0-16 Allianz National Hurling League final defeat at the hands of Kilkenny at Semple Stadium.
Barry-Murphy had arrived in Thurles hoping that his team could provide Kilkenny with a real test. They had after all beaten the All-Ireland champions at home in their league campaign.
But nothing could have prepared him for what happened in the opening 10 minutes at Semple Stadium. Unbelieveably, Kilkenny were 2-5 to 0-1 clear and Cork’s challenge was effectively over.
As hard as they tried, Cork just couldn’t come to terms with Kilkenny’s all-round superiority. By half-time, Kilkenny had gone 3-11 to 0-6 clear. All that remained for Cork was to try and regain some respect in the second half. To an extent they did, as the two sides scored 10 points apiece after the interval.
But the reality is that Kilkenny could afford to ease down with the National League title already in the bag. Overall, this was a bitterly disappointing day for the Rebel County.
They must now regroup before facing Tipperary or Limerick in the Munster semi-final on
June 24.
Quite rightly, Barry-Murphy had been praised for the way his young team had come through to reach the league decider.
His problem now is rebuilding confidence after such a shattering defeat. “Sure, the nature of that defeat does knock confidence and I just hope it doesn’t knock the lads back too much,” Barry-Murphy admitted.
“I’ve said all along that we still have quite a bit to learn but at the same time it’s disappointing to be beaten by so much for the team and the supporters. All you can do is to admire Kilkenny’s clinical approach to the game.”
The other noteworthy aspect to Kilkenny’s success is that they achieved the final success without quite a few of their top names, including Henry Shefflin, Richie Power and Michael Rice. Manager Brian Cody has managed to overcome such problems by introducing several exciting newcomers.
Most importantly, Kilkenny continue to combine intensity and skill, irrespective of who is in the team. The rising young Cork star Conor Lehane summed it up when stating: “We had no space, they surrounded us. It’s very hard to play against.”
In other words, most teams can be very good if they are allowed to play. The problem is that the sheer intensity of the Kilkenny tackling very often stops the opposition from performing.
By contrast, very few sides are able to do the same to Kilkenny. It happens now and then, such as last year’s league final defeat against Dublin, but that only served to make them even more determined to win the All-Ireland.
The one thing you clearly cannot be against Kilkenny is at all nervous. Unfortunately, Cork looked apprehensive in that opening 10 minutes and were made to pay a huge penalty.
They just couldn’t come to terms with Eoin Larkin. The full-forward causing them all sorts of problems, scoring Kilkenny’s opening goal and then setting up a second for Colin Fennelly.
With Patrick Hogan, Matthew Ruth and Michael Fennelly contributing five points between them, Kilkenny had established their 2-5 to 0-1 advantage and the game, astonishingly, was effectively over.
The third goal from TJ Reid came just before the break and Kilkenny were 14 points clear (3-11 to 0-6) at half-time. The arrival of Darren Sweetman from the substitutes bench did something to improve matters for Cork after the interval but there was never any chance of the Rebel Country getting back into contention.
Sweetman finished with 0-2 but free-taker Patrick Horgan comfortably Cork’s top scorer with 0-9, six of which came from frees and one from a penalty. Larkin and Colin Fennelly each contributed 1-4 for Kilkenny, with TJ Reid getting 1-2.
The only disappointment was a worrying ankle injury to Michael Fennelly. That apart, manager Brian Cody was very pleased.
“It was a good performance.” Cody said. “We had a huge challenge and Cork were fancied by a lot of people, which is understandable.
“The last day when they beat us in the League they were better than. We went out today to take up the challenge and the lads did very well.”
Young Rossies
test Dubliners
OUTSIDERS Roscommon made Dublin fight really hard to win the All-Ireland Under 21 Football final by 2-12 to 0-11 at Tullamore on Sunday.
It was only in the closing stages that Dublin got on top, scoring 1-4 to win by a flattering seven point margin. The sides were level with 10 minutes remaining.
Previously, Roscommon had led by 0-10 to 1-5, providing their big following in the 10,000-plus crowd with good reason to hope for a major shock. But a combination of a superior bench and their strong midfield saw Dublin regain control in the final quarter.
It was their second title at Under 21 level in three years. Manager Jim Galvin deserves great credit for making the right substitutions at the right time.
But huge credit must also go to Roscommon. They played a good brand of football throughout with Donie Smith, Cian Connolly, Cathal Shine, skipper Paddy Brogan and Colin Compton causing problems for the Dubs.
Eventually, however, Dublin got going with Emmet O Conghaile making a big contribution in midfield and Gary Sweeney very effective at centre forward. After a superb point from centre back John Kelly brought them level, Dublin pushed on to take control in the closing stages.
Duel star Ciaran Kilkenny came good with with two points to enable Dublin move four clear before substitute Paul Mannion crashed home a goal in injury time.
Paul Hudson (1-4) finished as Dublin’s top scorer with Smith (0-4) Roscommon’s main contributor.
