Kilkenny 0-23; Clare 0-21
Just in case we were thinking of writing Kilkenny off post-Cody, they showed up in a real humdinger of a game against league and All Ireland champions Clare in Cusack Park, on Sunday and showed that only a fool would write them off under Derek Lyng in this, his third season in charge.
When they went 0-9 to 0-2 behind on Sunday, it looked as if their seven league losses to the Banner would soon be eight. That they had fought their way back into contention by half-time and were the better team in the second half as they marched to a two-point win showed that they could be a dark-horse to bring Liam MacCarthy back to Noreside for the first time in a decade.
The black and amber spirit shone through even at the end when Clare had levelled by the 70th minutes. The visitors weren’t content to take a share of the spoils as sharpshooter Eoin Cody and substitute Luke Hogan shot over the points to ease to victory.
Yes, we need to factor in some caveats like the fact that Clare only had a handful of players on duty who won the two big national titles last year. Lyng only had nine of his troops from last year and so it was a question of seeing what the strength in depth was like for both counties.
David Reidy and Davie Conroy were on song early and when the home side were seven points to the good after 18 minutes, it appeared as if Clare would go on to win easily.
But with Mikey Carey in inspired form at wing back - scoring three points - the Cats clawed their way back into the game and only trailed by 0-12 to 0-10 at the break.
The intent was clear on behalf of the visitors and with points by Peter McDonald and man-of-the-match Martin Keoghan levelling it pretty quickly, both sides slugged it out like two heavyweight boxers from there to the end.
Twice Clare got their noses two point in front but each time, the men from the marble city found inspiration and equalized.
The impressive Keoghan landed a brace of fine scores in less than a minute before Cody and Hogan got the scores which put final daylight between the sides.
Kilkenny: A Tallis; S Murphy, H Lawlor, M Butler; M Carey (0-3), D Blanchfield, F Mackessy; P McDonald (0-2), J Molloy; M Keoghan (0-5), C Kenny (0-1), P Deegan; B Ryan, E Cody (0-2), B Drennan (0-7, 1f, 0-1’65) Subs: G Dunne (0-1) for Molloy (43), L Hogan (0-1) for Kenny (51), L Connellan (0-1) for Ryan (59), Z Bay Hammond for Mackessy (64, inj).
Clare: E Quilligan; I McNamara, D Lohan, C Leen; C Galvin (0-1), D McInerney, J O’Neill; R Taylor, C Malone; S Rynne (0-2), D Conroy (0-3), P Crotty; S Meehan (0-2), A Shanagher (0-1), D Reidy (0-8, 0-7f) Subs: R Hayes for McInerney (35+2, inj), P Donnellan (0-2) for Taylor (43), K Smyth (0-2) for Shanagher (50), R Hayes for Crotty (55), J Conneally for Leen (61, inj).
Ref: S Hynes (Galway).
