Brian Cody will raise bar higher for sloppy Kilkenny
With 30 minutes gone, and Kilkenny ahead by 0-13 to 0-4, the thought came into my head: “Will I make a run for it and shorten the road home?”
In fairness to Galway and Micheal Donoghue, they completely restructured their team. They brought Joe Canning to midfield, switched David Burke to number six and pushed Daithi Burke into full-back. Colin Fennelly should have had a goal and James Skehill made a great save from Walter Walsh but Galway still looked way more solid with that realigned formation.
Despite all the speculation about where to play Joe where he is most influential, I think it is out midfield. He sat in front of the half-back line and sprayed ball around, especially to the full-forward line. He also linked well with David Burke and scored a few quality points. David and Daithi Burke will also have given Galway management food for thought about forming a new defensive spine.
Kilkenny looked really comfortable but Galway crept up on them. Paul Hoban went up the field and found himself on an overlap to bag a goal and reduce the deficit to three. Then Galway had it down to one in no time but TJ Reid pulled a few balls from the sky and engineered the scores to see Kilkenny home.
Conor Fogarty was like a Duracell bunny , the energy buzzing out through his jersey. All the Kilkenny defenders were solid, especially their half-back line. Padraig Walsh was probably man-of-the-match. Jackie Tyrrell was comfortable in his first game back. Jason Flynn and Cathal Mannion kept switching corners, trying to run Jackie and Shane Prendergast into the ground, but the running gradually slowed the more Kilkenny tacked on the points.
This time last year, Kilkenny were worried about filling JJ Delaney’s shirt at full-back, but Joey Holden has turned into a serious operator at number 3. Rob Lennon was excellent at centre-back against Tipperary but Brian Cody handed the jersey back to Kieran Joyce yesterday, who had a fine game. That example alone provided exhibit A in how Cody keeps everyone on their toes, how one good game means so little in his eyes.
Galway would remind you of one of the French rugby teams; they just don’t like travelling. They had some poor wides near the end when they could have burgled a draw. Joe missed a late free when you’d have put your shirt on him to score. They had more good chances but Galway just didn’t seem to believe in themselves enough that they could drag a result out of Nowlan Park.
Kilkenny handed Galway a lifeline largely through sloppiness. Cody will be delighted with a win in those circumstances because he will have loads of ammunition to give it to them during the week. On the other hand, even when Galway did make a run at Kilkenny late on, the All-Ireland champions never looked like losing the match.
If Kilkenny had kept their foot pressed to the accelerator at 0-13 to 0-4 ahead, they could have drilled Galway. They seemed to think it would keep coming as easy as it had been, which lulled them into an even falser sense of security. Cody will make hay on that. Don’t be surprised to see wholesale changes for the Cork game next Saturday.
Cody sets the standards but those demands almost drip from the stands and terraces as well. The game lacked atmosphere. The crowd was small but the Kilkenny support were barking like wild dogs anytime a player didn’t meet the standards they expect. Joyce was having a great first half but made a mistake and the supporters nearly chewed the head off him. Even nine ahead, you could hear the groans anytime a Kilkenny player missed a tackle or didn’t fully control a ball.
Conor Fogarty has gone to a different level. When Mick Fennelly comes back beside him, who is going to break Kilkenny at midfield? TJ’s versatility was superb again but he has also grown into the clear leader of this side now too.
After such a good start to the campaign, Galway are now dragged into the mire. They could very easily find themselves in a relegation final, especially with the head-to-head against Dublin possibly coming into play. They still have tough games to come against Tipperary and Waterford but Tipp are also only on two points, which makes the Galway-Tipp meeting on Sunday the game of next weekend.
The only guarantee at this stage is whoever finds themselves in the relegation final, Cork will meet them. They don’t look like getting any results from their last two games but even if they do, scoring difference and head-to-head results has made a bad situation even worse.
