Hennessy: only the strongest will survive

FORMER Kilkenny star Joe Hennessy has a double wish for the weekend. Naturally, he hopes that his native county can defeat Tipperary and continue its bid to retain the All-Ireland SHC crown. But there’s more.

Secretly, he relishes the prospect of meeting Cork in the final, as he is still stung by the defeat by the Rebels in the 1978 decider, and the loss of another title four years ago.

Hennessy has three All-Ireland medals from five final appearances, along with numerous other honours. But to many of his generation, he is remembered as one of the most stylish hurlers of the era.

Currently, he is a selector with the Kilkenny minor team coached by Laois native Brother Damien Brennan which will face Cork on Sunday in the curtain-raiser.

Whatever about being confident of success in the senior game against Tipperary, he has high hopes of another classic to compare with last season's semi-final and indeed the League final clash.

"It was probably one of the best games over the last fifteen or twenty years. Our lads had to pull out all the stops, which they did, to win a famous match," he comments.

"I have great hopes of Sunday's game being as good. I'd be surprised if it isn't. You have two teams hell-bent on winning and the rivalry is unbelievable. And when two teams collide like that, there's only one outcome they will tear into one another for 70 minutes and the strongest will survive. It will go down to the wire.

"I thought last year they got a great start against us and possibly could have got two goals early on. If they got them, they could have cantered on and would have been very hard to stop."

Modern rivalry between the counties doesn't compare to the frequency or toughness of the exchanges back in the fifties and early sixties.

More recently, I recall an epic League encounter in Nowlan Park, a short time after Tipperary re-emerged in Munster by winning the 1987 title, when Hennessy lined out at right corner-back and held Nicky English scoreless. That would have been the first serious meeting of the counties since the 1971 championship, and although Tipp lost, it was evident that they were on the way back to the top.

"The rivalry, from Callan to Mullinahone on that side, and then down around Urlingford, is unbelievable," he says. "The older people in Kilkenny remember the bad days, when Tipperary were beating us regularly. But that changed a bit in 1967 before we lost 1971, on a day we should have won. Then you had the 1991 final, another we reckoned we should have won. But this Kilkenny team has had a very good run. They respect Tipperary, but they have no fears of them."

Taking account of the fact that Kilkenny have contested the last six All-Ireland semi-finals, Hennessy believes that the fact of winning the last two Leagues is bound to make it harder on the team to maintain their winning sequence. A number of players have "fallen by the wayside" in the meantime, and nobody doubts that the demands on the squad are massive.

On the positive side, Hennessy says that nothing compares to being in Croke Park "on the big day".

He attributes much of their success to the management of Brian Cody, a player he knows very well from playing both with and under him for over 20 years with James Stephens.

"Brian is a fantastic manager, a great leader and he does his job nice and quietly. He's what I would call 'a great hurling man' and his strength is that he knows every young hurler in Kilkenny, from U-12 up along. He is watching all matches, not just senior. He has a great passion for the game."

Looking at the likely key battles in the game, he agrees that Thomas Dunne - "probably the best hurler Tipp have" - would be a huge loss if he were to be ruled out. He bases this on the threat posed by Kilkenny centre-forward Henry Shefflin.

"Shefflin is probably five or six years ahead of himself in experience. He has it every way, speed, skill and strength. His ball-winning ability is unbelievable, as is his vision for the game. He is one hell of a brilliant centre-forward.

"The incentive is with Tipperary. We probably stole the League final off them and we beat them last year. So, they won't want to lose three in a row. We'll have to match them for hunger, determination and devilment!"

He doesn't believe Kilkenny will be affected by the long layoff, because the players have been busy with their clubs in the interim. Interestingly, however, he felt it did affect Cork last Sunday.

"Definitely, it took them a while to get going. I was at the Munster final and for the first 20 minutes they were in a bit of bother. Slowly but surely they hauled Waterford back and they scored seven points without replay. They looked in trouble on Sunday when they were behind, but they were able to put 2-5 on the board. When they're on song they are hard to stop.

"I think they finished with the better team, with Pat Mulcahy going left full and Diarmuid O'Sullivan in full-back. They looked more comfortable. They missed a few early chances at the start and a few at the end.

"There is more scope for improvement on their side.

"I genuinely feel that Wexford played to their potential. Everything went right - because they made it happen and they played some great hurling. But they didn't win!"