Carey to provide spark for Cats

WITHOUT doubt, THE inclusion of DJ Carey in Kilkenny’s attack for the second of the Guinness hurling championship semi-finals in Croke Park on Sunday places their challenge in a very different light.

There is no certainty that it will help guarantee them victory, but, it promises to considerably enhance their chance sprospects of beating holders Tipperary . Precisely what He offers goal-scoring power that has been noticeably lacking at times this season.

Questions have been asked about his match fitness and his physical fitness, given his much-publicised lay-off. His selection may seem a gamble, and even possibly disruptive in the sense that he has leapfrogged over panel members who have been involved all year.

And it has been at the expense of clubmate Charlie Carter, who missed the League final win over Cork from a hamstring strain and who hasn't been able to command a regular place since. Interestingly, the word is that Carey has been looking very well in training and the understanding is that Carter more or less expected his omission.

Carey is the only link with the counties' last championship meeting in the 1991 final, when both Nicky English and Ken Hogan played and current captain Thomas Dunne, along with Brian O'Meara, played with Tipp in the minor final the same day.

And this will be their first clash in a semi-final since 1958, when Tipp won 1-13 to 1-8.

Questions have been asked about Kilkenny's ability to perform up to standard after their lay-off.

And, this means improving on their display against Wexford, when Henry Shefflin was the one forward who did well. Selector Noel Skehan says the players can benefit from being involved in club games up to two weeks ago and in 'competitive' fifteen-against-fifteen practice games in training.

Skehan feels the system 'falls down' in keeping the provincial champions inactive for six weeks. "It's helping the two teams coming through the back door," he says. "Then again, if you come through the back door, you may not come out of it. A lot of it is in your head. If Kilkenny win the game nobody is going to say that the lay-off did them any harm.''

Interestingly, he feels the team 'did not get used' to the new surface the last day, pointing out that the ball tends to skid away rather than hopping and that it stops, rather than running on for a yard or two on the ground.

He agrees Kilkenny have been winning matches 'without playing brilliantly,' which the management finds reassuring up to a point. "We know we can play better and the day has come when we know we have to if we are going to win."

Tipperary may have lost the Munster final, but in Skehan's view getting 'a wake-up call' that early in the season was a big plus to them. "They got their warning that day. Since then, they have been putting the team together, working on the things which were failing them and putting them right.''

In Kilkenny's run-in to the 1991 All-Ireland final, it was noteworthy that it took a last-gasp goal from DJ Carey to beat Wexford, that they had only two points to spare over Dublin in the Leinster final and only beat Antrim by the same margin in the semi-final. Not surprisingly, Skehan doesn't read too much into Tipperary's qualifier win over Antrim when they struggled through the first half and needed a late Eugene O'Neill goal to finish with a comfortable ten points win.

"You must remember that going in against Antrim, Tipperary were on a hiding to nothing. If they won by 50 points, people would be saying that 'it was only Antrim,' and if would have been 'a poor performance' to win by seven or eight points. Really, all you want to do in a game like that is win and I'm sure that's how Nicky English will have looked at it.''

Addressing the area of Carey's return, Skehan said: "You ask should we start him or not, but he is a big player. He is still one of the top hurlers. People might doubt his fitness, but I have seen him train for the last four weeks and watched him in club games and I would say that he is very fit. I think he will slot in fairly effectively.''

My view of Kilkenny this year is that they were anything but impressive in their League final win over a Cork team that was then promising. They were convincing enough against an Offaly team which struggled at times but found it more difficult to dismiss the Wexford challenge. For their part, Tipperary managed to resurrect their challenge through the qualifier games, but one would question the form of a number of key players in the first half of the Antrim game.

However, the biggest question of all remains unanswered - and that is have all the players regained their confidence, or has the manner of the Waterford defeat left them with lingering doubts about their ability. With Carey's ability, Kilkenny present a much greater threat. But if that threat can be overcome, Tipp can win.