Kilkenny’s fiery sideline attitude passes to players
I know they lost a Leinster semi-final replay against Dublin last year but there were extenuating circumstances — their injury list then was deeper than this year, their panel wasn’t.
Like everyone else, I’ve been watching Brian Cody operating with this Kilkenny team for many years, but I’ve rarely seen him as involved as he was on Saturday night.
Looking at him, even during the warm-up, it was almost as if he, Martin Dempsey, James McGarry and Derek Lyng were actually going to play themselves.
There was no-one going to take their ground on this night and that was the message they were passing on to the players. Anything Galway threw at them, they were going to return on the double.
When you see a management making a change in every line of the pitch — apart from goalkeeper — by bringing in players they know and trust, that’s decisive, that’s bold.
You can have all the stats men, tacticians and psychologists in the world but you must have a management team that takes charge, that makes the changes they feel are needed and required.
For that, a management has to know their players inside out: Brian Cody and his sideline crew know those players.
More importantly, the players know Brian Cody, they know how he thinks, they know how he operates. Some would say that what he did was ruthless; it wasn’t, it was only what was needed.
What Kilkenny needed in this challenge against Galway were players who would stand up, who wouldn’t be found wanting in the physical stakes but who could hurl also. He got them in spades.
He went back to the old reliables in the defence — Brian Hogan at centre-back in front of JJ, and Jackie back in the corner. Brian did his job at centre-back, and more. Kilkenny like to talk about their great centre-backs but I think Brian Hogan is an underrated linchpin of this defence. He completely blotted out Joe Canning, didn’t give him a puck from play, he protected his full-back, he held the centre.
Of course he had two good wing men in Joey Holden and Cillian Buckley especially who had a great game. But none were better in defence than Jackie Tyrrell, back in his best position and back to his dominating best.
Another lesson Kilkenny took is their need for a more defensive midfielder and they had him in Conor Fogarty, who ran himself into the ground and defended well. Richie Hogan too played deeper, was less of an attacker than in the drawn game (though he still got two fine points).
Another area Kilkenny got right was their centre-forward deployment — Pádraig and Tommy Walsh were named in midfield but lined out at centre-forward and wing-forward respectively. It worked out too; Tommy isn’t the Tommy of old but he worked hard for as long as he was on the pitch. Pádraig though was a star; with three outstanding points, and an ocean of work.
Of them all, TJ Reid was the man. What a man to catch a ball, what a man to strike a ball, what a man to carry a ball.
Saturday was so typical of Galway: the more that’s expected of them, the flatter they fall. They hurled only in patches and only in a few positions. Iarla Tannian did well again, as did David Collins and Fergal Moore, while Colm Callanan made a few timely excursions from goal. They were let down by their forwards though — Conor Cooney apart — and by the midfield.
You’d have to say too, they were let down particularly by Joe Canning. Joe’s scores are drying up since the placed balls were taken off him. If he’s to prove himself up there with the best that’s out there even now, never mind the best that was ever there, he has a lot of ground to make up.
Doing it one week isn’t enough, and it’s not even enough to do it week after week; it has to be done week after week, year after year.
The biggest lesson Galway can learn from Kilkenny is how the Cats react to expectation. When the greatest pressure is on them, that’s when the greatest delivery comes from them.
