No point in patronising Déise
First, a follow-up to what I said on Saturday. Despite what everyone seems to believe, I did NOT say the football shouldn’t have been played in Croke Park. I said it shouldn’t have been played between the two hurling matches.
It should have been played at 4pm, when the hurling games were finished, thus allowing those from Kilkenny – and from Waterford – who had no interest in the football – to make their way home, if they so wished.
I know there are more football fans in both Kilkenny and Waterford than most people would give them credit for, and Meath and Mayo did serve up a fine game, but what was done to those supporters yesterday was unfair.
On my way from Quin to the match I passed two fellas near Ennis with two Kilkenny jerseys on them, and stopped to have a chat. The broadest of Kilkenny accents, they told me they were brothers, the Byrne brothers, from the lovely village of Inistioge, two young fellas coming from a stag night in Ennis.
Sick as two small hospitals they said they were, but they also told me there was no way they were going to miss this match in Croke Park yesterday. And boy, were they confident! Well, I hope the performance by Kilkenny yesterday helped somewhat in alleviating their hangovers, but will it have done anything to shatter the confidence? A little, I’d say, but only a little – Kilkenny don’t do lack of confidence, not these days anyway!
Before I get into Kilkenny, however, I want to talk about Waterford. Yesterday was Waterford’s seventh All-Ireland semi-final since 1998 – they have won once. Doesn’t that tell you something about this Waterford team?
I’ll make a prediction now – from what I saw yesterday, a lot of the lads in white-and-blue will not play an eighth semi-final. I’d say they came to Croke Park on a mission, but it wasn’t accomplished.
Waterford came to Croke Park this weekend to bury the ghosts of last September and that huge All-Ireland final loss. That was a very limited ambition, self-limiting ambition. Despite the scoreline, they never looked like winning, but what’s more, they never looked like they believed they could win. A pity.
Over the last ten years this has been one of the most entertaining teams in hurling, has played in many of the most entertaining matches during that period, but I wouldn’t be doing them any favours here now if I were to start patronising them. Yes, they had a moral victory of sorts yesterday, but moral victories are no good, certainly not to this team, given what they could have achieved over that decade but didn’t.
One man stood out again for Waterford yesterday, and that was Brick Walsh – it’s Stonewall Walsh he should have been nicknamed, not Brick, because that’s what he was like again yesterday, a stone wall.
If only Waterford had a few more like him, but that’s their problem – they don’t. Kevin Moran was very good for about 50 minutes, but didn’t sustain it, Stephen Molumphy likewise, several others also, including Eoin Kelly, but consistency was their problem as individuals, and consistency is Waterford’s enduring problem as a team.
Just a word on Eoin Kelly – I’ve been critical of this guy in the past, but he gave his all yesterday. A real threat from distance, he should have been moved outfield much sooner.
And while we’re on tactical errors, Aidan Kearney was left for far too long at full-back, where he was destroyed by the far more experienced Henry Shefflin. What will work in one game won’t always work in the next, and just because Aidan had a good day against Joe Canning, it didn’t mean it was going to work again against someone as wily as Henry.
When Declan Prendergast moved back to full-back, eventually, it was a better physical match-up, he closed Henry out, shut off that goal threat at least.
Final word on Waterford. I think Kilkenny fashioned the noose for them last year, they tightened it yesterday. As I said, I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of those guys back in Croke Park again, but here’s one man anyway who says thanks, Waterford, for those memories.
Kilkenny? I noticed one thing at the start of this game – PJ Ryan was missing from the parade. He wasn’t missing at the finish of the game, however. What a shot by Eoin Kelly, first timing the ball from close range, but a what a wonder reflex save by PJ, deflecting the ball over the bar.
Would it have made a difference to the result if that ball had gone in? No, it would only have made it closer, but it’s worth mentioning here simply for the quality of both the shot and stop.
Once again in this column I have to pay tribute to the sharpness of the Kilkenny management team, led by Brian Cody, the way they match players up both before and during a game.
John Mullane has been my player-of-the-year up to now, but he was totally blotted out yesterday, by Jackie Tyrell especially. Bringing Brian Hogan straight back in to centre-back was a real steadying influence, and John Tennyson, shifted to the wing, was excellent also, after a slow start.
They also mixed and matched the forwards, and best of those moves was that of Henry to full-forward. Eddie Brennan also worked out on the wing, used his pace; he finished at centre-forward, and did well on the Brick.
Overall, though, I don’t think we saw Kilkenny flat to the boards yesterday. Look at the forwards who didn’t play well – Eoin Larkin, Martin Comerford, Richie Power, Aidan Fogarty – then look at what Kilkenny scored anyway.
All those guys will have a point to prove the next day – if they’re there the next day. And here, praise also for the substitutions made by Kilkenny, Richie Hogan especially, TJ Reid also.
Kilkenny got two goals yesterday – had everyone been on song, it could have been five. Whatever about the scores missed, however, I think what will really concern Brian Cody is all the scores conceded, the three goals especially. I’d say there will be a lot of work done over the next four weeks to get one particular guy – a certain N. Hickey – fit for the first Sunday in September.
Overall, then, a good day in Croke Park, and I’ll finish with this. I never saw Ring or Mackey play, but I saw Jimmy Doyle, Eddie Keher and DJ Carey. I would now put Henry Shefflin up with all those guys – maybe even slightly ahead.
His skill, his touch, his finishing, his decision-making – brilliant. Four-in-a-row? Don’t write it down just yet – a lot of work to be done. Nowlan Park will be interesting over the next month.
