The day Kilkenny ran out of legs, ideas and steam

AT the final whistle a great roar erupted from thousands of Leeside throats and rumbled around Semple Stadium. But only at the final whistle.

It was as though, unlike the 1999 All-Ireland final, where they roared their team home in the closing 10 minutes, the Cork fans didn’t want to tempt fate.

As though they feared that even in his death throes, the striped giant might still lash out and inflict a mortal wound.