Relentless Cats play the numbers game again

They haven’t come up with a term for it yet. Maybe they’ve developed an aversion for such things in Kilkenny since the ‘Drive for Five’ didn’t work out as they wanted.

In Madrid, they’d herald it as La Decima. That’s what they’re calling Real’s quest for a 10th European Cup, and as Brian Whelahan pointed out a couple of weeks ago about the identity of his Offaly team’s first-round championship opponents, Kilkenny appear determined to win a 10th All-Ireland for and with Henry Shefflin. It has a nice ring and round number to it — 10, whatever about La Decima.

That would put Shefflin two ahead of anyone else from any other county — Christy Ring and John Doyle — but there is one category that Doyle will hardly be surpassed on. The pride of Holycross won 10 national league medals. A different, less valued, but all the same staggeringly impressive, Decima. It’ll prove beyond even the pride of Ballyhale. But should Kilkenny beat Tipperary next Sunday, it will be the eighth NHL medal for Kilkenny in the Cody and Shefflin era.