- More specifically, regarding the players and the match:
(a) First off: James McGarry hasnât got anything like the credit he deserves for an immaculate display. The run-up to John Hoyneâs point showed how difficult it is to control this new sliothar. Once again, McGarry was exemplary, in his unfussy way, as to control and handling. The rustiness that flecked his Leinster Final performance appears to have been flensed.
(b) Much to Michael Kavanaghâs credit, he recovered from an uneasy start, during which OâMeara troubled him in the air. His composure must be worth an awful lot to the men who hurl beside him. Earlier in the year, I broached the notion that Kilkennyâs chances of winning the A-I might be intimately linked to Kavanaghâs chances of HOTY. He wouldnât, at the minute, be one of the real frontrunners (although: who they? 2003 is a bit like 1991: MOTM in A-I Final is likely to be HOTY). It would never be easy for a cornerback to be HOTY. With Kavanagh, however, it is still possible.
Š Noel Hickey was indifferent to poor. Thatâs the truth. He was very culpable for Carrollâs goal chance, for instance, spilling a delivery he had every chance to control. I would be more worried save for the way Hickey appears to play to a contrapuntal rhythm: ropey game followed by an assured display. Also â or at least according to Enda McEvoyâs report on the League game with Cork â Joe Deane finds the going hard enough on the Dunnamaggin man, needing the deliveries into him âbespoke-tailoredâ.
(d) James Ryall wasnât as bad in the first half as people seem to feel. Against a forward of Eoin Kellyâs brilliance, plied with high-order deliveries from his halfbacks and midfield, anyone would struggle â particularly in their second big match. It is up to Ryallâs colleagues out the field to shield him from having to defend against quality ball. He seems a good enough stickman (and gives, if only on grounds of stature, a long-awaited second option at fullback). And it is to his credit that he improved throughout the match. That said, he did bullock one awful wide from distance in the first half when a cute low delivery was definitely the percentage ball. Not brilliant. But not a liability.
(e) Sean Dowling, in a way, is a remarkable hurler, as evidenced by the amount of two-touch hurling â trap it on the stick and move the sliothar on without taking it to hand â he played in the semi-final. Even Tommy Dunne, flawless of technique, would be chuffed with so frequent a recourse to that tactic. Even Gerald McCarthy would. It is an awful pity no coach took Dowling in hand as a young fella. His changing of hands on the hurl â in no. 5 fashion (same as Paddy Mullally) â inevitably makes you wonder what he could do if someone had insisted on the orthodoxy of technique insisted on by one of Babs Keatingâs coaches. Inevitably, the attrition is on ground strokes and striking on the run. Also, watch the way he clears sliothar: very poor, as The Blues says. Heâs getting away with it for the moment because of sheer physical power on the part of Hoyne and Shefflin. But watch the way the hurl seems to vibrate in his hand after the stroke: brute effort is the motor, not ease of technique. That canât work forever.
Still, while all Dowling needs to do is fetch, make ground and clear, heâll be reasonably okay, being a strong fetching man. Anything else, and heâs in bother. Nothing about Timmy McCarthyâs game over the last few years says he has the equipment to haunt that lax coach.
(f) Peter Barry doesnât have much hurling. We all know that, now. He canât even take a free. But we will never doubt his leadership and positional sense. Gleesonâs stand-up style (and fair play to Gleeson for his efforts) ultimately suits Barry, for all the hurly-burly. Gleeson will never deliver a killer goal-scoring pass, a la Joe Cooney. Niall McCarthy will be a different challenge with his running. Probably, McCarthy will do well in the first half and be substituted with 12 minutes to go. Barry will not allow McCarthy to run through him. And so a key goal is unlikely to accrue.
(g) J. J. Delaney is a class act. A blinding performance in the Final would see him a very credible contender for HOTY.
(h) Paddy Mullally did well â very well for a man whoâd been out of the intercounty frame for so long. Tasty and slick, especially with the height of his deliveries. How good would he be if he wasnât handicapped by barked technique?
(i) Derek Lyng hit some really poor wides in the first half. But you couldnât say he did bad. Unless the first effort goes over, however, he should pick a man in the fullforward line unless the next one is an absolute gimme. If ever there was a forward sextet that bore out the proverbial âTake your points and the goals will comeâ, itâs the current Kilkenny crowd. People queried whether heâd be that important a mover in the game due to this new sliothar making midfield still more redundant. He was, picking up broken ball around the halfback line. As I recall, the second â and decisive â goal came form a Lyng play. Worries about him are pretty much gone. He just needs to up his decision-making on the ball.
(j) Absolutely correct call to put Henry on Paul Kelly: stickin out. Bad wides, of course, which is sort of baffling. Again, however, was involved in lots of decisive things. Seems to be building up to something. Hurling very much within himself, which is sort of terrifying. Must buck up, even though he has scored a goal a game this season.
(k) âBIG JOHN HOYNE!â: so roared Barrie Henriques, as replayed on Radio Kilkenny the next day. That says it all, really. He had a job to do. He did it. He is limited in a most liberating way for his colleagues (as Henry always stresses). No reason why he canât stride on, so long as he is given clearly defined tasks.
(l) Halfway through the first half, Shefflin had to offer Tommy Walsh a few stern words, pointing to where he should be (and where he wasnât and where he hadnât been: in his given position). I mentioned in the run-up to the match that Walsh is ill-suited to hurling, generally, at wingforward and, particularly, on Eamonn Corcoran. Tommy just doesnât hold his ground. He was right over the other side of the field when Corcoran picked his brilliant delivery to Eoin Kelly for the goal that was disallowed. Tommy is an absolute dinger. But he is not a top-class intercounty wingforward â although he meets that adjectival challenge (and more) in three other lines of the field. As it is, he might end up scrapping for a place in the Final with Mullally. Dougal, on the face of it, is made for Ronan Curranâs catch-and-clear style. Shefflin would be a right ask for Tom Kenny. And, so arranged, would not Jimmy Coogan or Conor Phelan be the man to ask questions of Sean Og? An interesting one.
Also, had we lost, it should be noted, the scenario of Tommy being put in at no. 13 for about 15 minutes before halftime would have sharpened many knives.
(m) D. J. is hurling like a man preoccupied. He just doesnât seem fully to be engaged with the flow of the game. Still, it is a mark of his enduring class to slot so blithely those crucial 65s.
(n) Gorta was an unsung hero. Again. It is wonderful to have the option of bringing him out to wingforward (as was taken before halftime). There is not a team in the country that wouldnât love to have him. He gives us â and will continue to give us â great flexibility. Gorta wonât let us down.
(o) As we sat down in our seats, I said to the Donegal friend that was with me: âIâd say today is going to be a good day for Eddie Brennan.â Just couldnât see Costello being able for him (especially since heâd wouldnât be as psyched up as heâd be if marking Carey). 2002âs Munster Final laid bare a coarseness in Costelloâs game that is not going to go away at this stage. Brennan suits him even less than Carey, since Brennan is more direct. For whatever reason, the G-BC man removed his infuriating habit of coming from behind the cornerback. That being the case, the necessary ability, as weâve all long acknowledged, is there. Eddie has, if he goes well next month, a right chance of grooving his name deep in Kilkenny hurling history. I liked the point about him putting his fist up as he was substituted by Carter last year. Get out in front. Scare them. Score then. You will. You will.
§ âTis quite something to win by twelve points, pulling up, and to still be going into an All-Ireland Final in which Noel Hickey, Derek Lyng, Henry Shefflin, Tommy Walsh and D. J. Carey all have serious points to prove.
(q) I have had some harsh words to say about Brian Codyâs decisions over the course of this summer (and beforehand). Be that as it may, I said to Hattons Grace before the semi-final that no knife was being sharpened on my part: win, lose or draw. Cody is the best man for the job: I have always said that. Although I wasnât entirely happy â shall we say⌠â with his method of conveying said implicit conviction, it presumably was our managerâs belief that we didnât need Charlie Carter to beat whoever. Was far from sure about that fugitive credo: and was mistaken, in fairness. Will also admit that I am one of those people who really like to be right: a fault of mine. But never was I so happy to be wrong, in whatever fashion. The manner in which Cody seems able to form a TEAM is remarkable. It could not be said yet to be a team of great hurlers (though J. J.âs progress and Tommyâs arrival has bulked up that quotient). As a unit, however, they are now dwellers on the threshold of greatness.
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One of W. B. Yeatsâ most memorable phrases came when he acknowledged âthe eternal virginity of the soulâ. Every Kilkenny match I attend on a do-or-die occasion reminds me of how right he was. Ormonde blood, of course.
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The team-talk couldnât be more straightforward. Grown men donât quickly forget coming off a train in tears in front of a crowd of thousands.
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We are going to do it.
