Cats purring along as tame Cork get an early licking

Cork 1-11 Kilkenny 1-14

In doing so they also assumed pole position to qualify for their third Allianz Hurling League final in four years. Is the League important, or is it not? Are Kilkenny ahead of Cork again, or were the Rebels just caught cold? The answer to the first question depends on which manager you spoke to, after yesterday’s encounter. The answer to the second, well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

“We came here to win the match, and we did that,” said Kilkenny manager Brian Cody, but what he said during a bruising game - to his players, to the referee, to the linesman - was even more emphatic, as was the animated way in which he said it.

Kilkenny meant business, and it wasn’t all about making championship statements. This was League business. As for Cork manager, John Allen? By game’s end, he had added Brian Corcoran, Joe Deane and Tom Kenny to the nine starters from the All-Ireland, and the difference was significant. Any regrets about not starting with a stronger side? “No, not at all. I’ve made no secret of the fact that the league is not a priority for us. We came here to win, but obviously we didn’t put out our strongest team. We have a weather eye on May 22 (Munster semi-final against Waterford), that’s the date I’m looking at. We wanted to see if we have players who can play at this level - that’s what these games are about.”

Mixed signals alright, but no confusion about how the respective managers approached this game. In the words of Cody, Cork had strolled through the league to date, unbeaten, unextended, whereas Kilkenny were more battle-hardened. It showed, and quickly.

Despite playing into a strong breeze, Kilkenny led 1-7 to no score after just 13 minutes, having dominated a lethargic-looking Cork in every sector of the pitch.

The Kilkenny defence was utterly on top of an insipid Cork attack, new partnership Derek Lyng and Brian Barry were dominant in midfield, which left the Cork defence struggling to contain a well-fed Kilkenny attack.

Full-forward DJ Carey was most prominent of those forwards. He notched two points, gave the scoring pass for the well-struck Martin Comerford goal, while new centre-forward Eoin Larkin - captain for the day in the absence of Peter Barry - gave All-Star Ronan Curran more trouble than he’s endured in some time and chimed in with a hat-trick of points.

“When you glance up at the scoreboard and you’re behind 1-7 to no score after just 15 minutes, up and down the line there, it’s a lonely place,” said Cork manager Allen. “You’re wondering are the plans gone totally out the window. But we stuck to our plans, fought our way back into the game, made it an exciting finish.”

From that 13th minute to the end of the first-half, Kilkenny didn’t score again, but did hold Cork to just two points, both from Ben O’Connor frees (the first Cork score didn’t come until the 26th minute).

It was 1-7 to 0-2 at the break then, the strong breeze at their backs for the second half, it should have been a comfortable win for Kilkenny. It wasn’t. Seven points was all they managed in the final 35 minutes, to Cork’s 1-9, and only a couple of superb goal-line saves, from Jackie Tyrell and Noel Hickey, denied Cork an unlikely, and undeserved, victory.

The gradual introduction of the big guns to midfield and attack made a difference to the home side, as did the step-up in performance by the defence, in which Pat Mulcahy was regal, with his Newtownshandrum clubmate Ben O’Connor doing most of the scoring damage.

Still, and despite a late flurry from Cork, with midfielders Lyng and Barry continuing to impress (a critical long-range point apiece in the second half) Kilkenny held out for a deserved win, and a marker, albeit a minor one, was laid down.

“We won by whatever it was in the end, but the game lasts for 70 minutes, and whether we get on top early or not doesn’t matter, the final result is the big thing. Thankfully we finished on top,” said Cody.

“There’s a theory that the wind is a major factor, but both teams played better into it, which proves that there’s no exact science, no absolute theory, in hurling. It’s about 15 fellas battling it out the whole time, and both teams did that today, and as ever, there was only a puck of a ball between us in the end. It was a good contest and referee Pat O’Connor was sensible. There has to be physical contact, everybody wants to get the ball, nobody wants to surrender the ball, you’re only using your body, nobody getting hit with hurleys. It was great stuff.”

With a tough away game to Clare next Sunday, Cork’s team-building will continue, said John Allen. “Until we’re happy that we have exhausted looking at people, we’ll continue, and we’ll be looking at players again next week. Ronan Curran has a championship football match on Friday night, and Jonathon O’Callaghan has a hurling championship match on Saturday night, he’s out. We probably won’t be putting out our strongest 15, we want to give every fella a fair shot.”

Scorers: Kilkenny: E. Larkin 0-5 (0-3 frees); M. Comerford 1-0; B. Barry 0-3 (0-2 sideline); DJ Carey 0-2; H. Shefflin, D. Lyng, R. Power (free), T. Walsh, 0-1 each. Cork: B. O’Connor 0-9 (all frees); K. Murphy 1-0; N. Ronan, N. McCarthy, 0-1 each.

KILKENNY: PJ Ryan; J. Tyrell, N. Hickey, J. Ryall; R. Mullally, B. Hogan, JJ Delaney; D. Lyng, B. Barry; M. Comerford, E. Larkin, T. Walsh; C. Phelan, DJ Carey, R. Power.

Subs: H. Shefflin (Phelan 39); E. McCormack (Hogan 57); E. Brennan (Shefflin 66).

CORK: D. Óg Cusack; C. O’Connor, D. O’Sullivan, P. Mulcahy; J. Gardiner, R. Curran, S. Óg Ó hAilpin; P. Tierney, J. O’Connor; B. O’Connor, N. McCarthy, N. Ronan; K. Murphy, G. McCarthy, J. O’Callaghan.

Subs: B. Corcoran (O’Callaghan 35); J. Deane (G. McCarthy 43); T. Kenny (Tierney 51); G. Callinan (Ronan 67).

Referee: Pat O’Connor (Limerick).