Kilkenny can’t be distracted from single focus of winning game

Diarmuid O’Flynn

Though Galway have won just four All-Ireland titles against Kilkenny's 28 and haven't tasted ultimate glory since 1988, such statistics will not cloud feelings in Catland.

While battle is still engaged, there will be no let-up in intensity.

The thing about Kilkenny is that they are relentless in their pursuit of All-Irelands. The famed black-and-amber strip doesn't come with rights, with privileges. It comes with responsibilities, handed on from one generation of hurlers to the next. You might have won one of the previous five All-Irelands, you might have won three, as wing-back JJ Delaney's current Kilkenny side have done, doesn't matter. Your responsibility remains the same, win the next one, roll over everyone in the process. Limerick in the quarter-final, no title since 1973, Galway this Sunday? No quarter.

"You can't afford to get caught up in their problems," explains JJ, "you must get your own shop in order. Tomorrow is an All-Ireland semi-final and it's a game that must be won. No-one remembers who got that far, who was beaten, it's all about the second Sunday in September. That's what you're training for all year that's all that's in your head. You can't be thinking of who you're playing, what they've won, or haven't won. That can become a distraction."

That's the kind of attitude that sees Kilkenny perform, year after year, in Croke Park. No-one will be overawed by these occasions, by any team or any stadium.

There will be no distraction from the single focus of winning. Limerick went to Croke Park for the quarter-final, spent the first half hour running around like headless chickens, distracted by who they were playing and where they were playing. Galway did the same for their first half against Tipperary. Limerick eventually recovered, but it was too late against the experience of Kilkenny while Galway made a more impressive recovery.

On the back of that performance, they should now face Kilkenny in better mental condition. That's the challenge JJ is anticipating.

"That second half improvement should have settled them. They're the form team coming into this game, based on that performance, against our second half performance against Limerick.

"We know ourselves we weren't good on the day and didn't do ourselves justice. We know if we play like that tomorrow we'll be blown out of the water. We're going to have to up our game a lot against Galway, if we want to reach an All-Ireland final. We didn't win the ball in the second half, but hopefully we can rectify that."

What happened? "Hard to know. If we did, we'd be able to rectify it straight away.We had no reason to be complacent. Limerick created a lot of chances in the first-half, didn't take them and missed a few easy frees. I was talking to Ollie Moran afterwards and he told me it took them half an hour to get used to Croke Park, so that had a big bearing on it. When they did eventually settle, they took over, for a long period.

"They were very good, especially their half-back line, Peter Lawlor, Ollie Moran and Brian Geary. They took over the game in the second half. Peter was outstanding, points from half-back, Ollie coming up the field; if they find another couple of forwards, they'll be there or thereabouts next year, we'll be seeing them in Croke Park a lot more often." Galway now pose the next challenge, and a considerable one it is.

JJ especially, and his half-back colleagues, will be under pressure with all three of the Galway half-forwards in the running for the man of the match award in the win over Tipp.

"David Forde at centre-forward got a fine goal and was involved in setting up three or four points in the last few minutes, with Richie Murray getting a couple of those."

And for JJ's likely direct opponent, non-stop Alan Kerins? "Yeah, Alan is that kind of player, very fit, you know if you're going to be on him you're not going to be in one spot for very long. I didn't really see them until the last ten or 15 minutes of the Tipp game, when they were well on top, but they certainly looked good then."

It could be a pain, being a Kilkenny hurler. In his work with Envirocare (part of the Kingspan Group), selling water and sewage treatment systems for one-off houses, JJ does a lot of driving, a lot of meeting and greeting.

Tomorrow, the talking stops, war is engaged in earnest, including the psychological battle.

"You'd expect a team to come at you, regardless of the situation; if teams don't come hard at you, you'd wonder what they're doing there. Forget about last year, this will come down to a puck of a ball, a mistake here or there."

Total focus. It's the most difficult aspect of the game to master, the most difficult to maintain. They KIlkenny slipped against Limerick, survived. They know they can't afford to do that again. Not if Galway turn up to play.