King Henry the shining star as counties get feel for summer fare
But I also figured the heat was going to have an effect on the older players. How wrong I was.
The two best players on view were both with Kilkenny, JJ Delaney at one end of the field, Henry Shefflin at the other.
Despite so many great players on all four teams you’d have to say the most outstanding was Henry – his skill, stickwork and movement. The legs may be gone slow, but, with economy of movement, efficiency on and off the ball, he gave an exhibition.
That was one of the reasons the Kilkenny v Galway appealed to me so much. It was a real game, with some great attacking play but also, and more importantly, there were some great displays from both defences.
I know Galway lost but I don’t think they’ll be too unhappy because it looks like they’ve found a few defenders. Two good central defenders especially in the Burke brothers, Ronan at full-back, strong and cool, and Daithí at centre, a good athlete but able to hold the middle.
They’re young, in their early 20s, as is another man who impressed. Joseph Cooney did a fine job on Walter Walsh, even though he was only a late call-up.
So, that’s the defence almost settled for Galway. Now they just need someone up front to offer some support to Conor Cooney, their best attacker yesterday. They had a few bad wides that cost them eventually, a few bad options, but they did show us something. Two happy sets of supporters heading back to Kilkenny and Galway then.
Kilkenny especially.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Look at the new lads for Kilkenny yesterday. Newcomer Brian Kennedy at left-corner-back, Cillian Buckley getting better by the year outside him. And of course on the other wing, if he had been wearing a red helmet you’d have said it was Tommy Walsh at his best, but no, it was his younger brother Padraig. He was my man of the match. The point he got was brilliant, a move started inside his own half and finished almost inside the 20m line. He surely got a few grinds from the big brother in the backyard when he was a youngster.
Speaking of younger brothers who could have been cloned, John Power took his goal brilliantly, though he could have had two more.
That was Kilkenny then, still at the top and still with a little more in reserve.
To Tipperary and Clare. While entertaining, it was far too open and there was far too little on offer from the defences. No real defending, despite the fact both teams were playing a sweeper, an extra defender.
Tipperary were better and managed their resources better. I hate all this talk of tactics in hurling, prefer to keep it simple, but if there were tactics then Tipp won that battle hands down. They saw Clare with the sweeper, then did the same themselves and threw the gauntlet down to Clare ‘okay, see if ye can break us down’.
What Tipp showed us was they have the best attacking tactics. Even the sweeper system can be overcome with good fast ball to good fast forwards. Look what happened when Seamus Callanan got that kind of ball, look how simply Bonner Maher’s goals came.
The Tipp defence came in for a lot of criticism early in this league, a lot of goals conceded. With Padraic Maher at full-back, Brendan Maher outside him, that problem seems to have been solved. Cathal Barrett came in late to corner-back too but also played well, as did James Woodlock in midfield, till he ran out of steam.
Another area the Tipp management did well was on the substitutions. Three points from their subs, two from Shane Bourke and one from Gearóid Ryan (it was nice to see him back after injury).
To Clare; one thing they’ve got to do is decide who’s going to play centre-back. Is it Conor Ryan or is it Patrick O’Connor? Cost them two goals yesterday.
Meanwhile, a former centre-back, Patrick Donnellan, was outstanding yesterday.
I think this wasn’t a true reflection of Clare. They’re better than this and only for Donal Touhy in goal yesterday they’d have got a bit of a hiding.
Looking ahead is like looking back, another Kilkenny v Tipperary league final, but how bad? They never let us down, those two.
