Cats are wary of Wexford

KILKENNY hit the campaign trail on Sunday with the whiff of hurling history all around them.

At Croke Park, the Cats will take their first steps towards an unprecedented six-in-a-row of provincial titles. Then there is the small matter of chasing their first All-Ireland three-in- a-row since 1911/12/13.

Challengers Wexford have lost a plethora of top players since last year’s defeat to their neighbours with veterans Liam Dunne and Larry O’Gorman retired, Darren Stamp gone the same route, quitting the panel.

Injury-stricken Keith Rossiter and MJ Furlong are non-starters, while Barry Lambert, Colm Keogh and the forward duo of Paul Codd and Larry Murphy are all doubtful. Everything is set up then, for a Kilkenny walkover.

Unless, that is, you are from Kilkenny, with a nervous eye on the past.

“Wexford and Kilkenny is a bit like Cork playing Tipp in Munster with one of them not going well,” explains long-serving county chairman Ned Quinn.

“The form doesn’t matter, one will always trouble the other. There’s too much history, we have too much respect for them to be going up there under any illusions.”

He points to the record books to prove his point.

“The greatest Kilkenny team I saw was the team of 1971/2/3/4/5. Five years in a row in the All-Ireland final, won three, unlucky not to have won four because, without wanting to take from them, Limerick beat a depleted team in 1973.

“That Kilkenny team won the League in ’76, then played Wexford in the Leinster semi-final and were hammered by 19 points. Nobody saw that coming, the team of all the talent, probably the greatest Kilkenny team, Skehan, Larkin, Keher, Cummins, Delaney, Hendersons, Purcell, Crotty, Chunky O’Brien, Treacy, yet they were blown out the gate.

“We were going for three-in-a-row that year as well. Last year the same things were said about Wexford after the Leinster final, but I was in Nowlan Park when they beat Waterford in the qualifiers, I was in Croke Park when they could have beaten Cork the first day in the All-Ireland semi-final.

“Those performances are in Wexford every year and we’ll be treating Wexford with respect, believe me.”

History then is the major concern in Kilkenny, while form is another.

The Cats were also defending their League title this year, also going for three-in-a-row, but a bad start left them playing catch-up. Though they finished in style, they lost their crown.

That lesson, plus the fact that manager Brian Cody is not one to tolerate complacency, gives Quinn hope the mindset for Croke Park will be right.

“The bad start to the League didn’t bother me, we were away a long time, on our own break, then 10 or 12 of the lads were gone on the Allstar trip. Anyone would be tired after nearly five weeks of tripping around.

“It was hard to come back straight into League action. Since then, we’ve had three rounds of our local championship, then they came together again three clear weeks before the championship. The biggest influence on this team in recent years has been Brian Cody. He’s done it right, stood for no nonsense, picked the form team the whole time and fellas have responded.

“They know that if they train well, show the form, they’ll play, while the reverse is also true. He’ll make sure there is no complacency. Still, whether people believe this or not, I would be worried about Sunday,” adds Quinn.

“I’m looking forward to Wexford coming at us, seeing how we respond, but I’m taking nothing for granted. You don’t know what tempo we’ll be at, that will be decisive; I expect the opening 20 minutes to be ferocious, Wexford will come out with all guns blazing. The longer we can stay with them the better our chances, but I wouldn’t like to be going seven or eight points behind, then try to haul them back. If we hit the right notes, we should win, but if we don’t, we could be in trouble.”

History doesn’t always repeat, but history does always carry a lesson.