Cats want to go direct route

THINK about corporate Kilkenny, of the team dynamic that has propelled them to so much success under the inspired management of Brian Cody and the training methods of Mick O’Flynn.

You then think about their star players, players like JJ Delaney.

Still in his early 20s but facing into his fifth championship campaign, he enjoys a reputation that most intercounty players can only dream about, and an honours list that few on the Offaly team he faces in tomorrow’s Leinster semi-final can realistically aspire to.

Yet the best-known Offaly hurler - who won’t even be on the field tomorrow - is one of the players JJ admired most in his younger years; Brian Whelahan was the hurler who helped inspire him.

“Brian was one of the best hurlers over the last 10 years,” says Delaney.

“I would have grown up watching him play. He was one of my role models as a player. As a back you’d try and style yourself on his play, but you’d never get as close as him. Without doubt, he was one of the best wing-backs I have every seen.”

Delaney, from the Fenians club, replaced another modern legend - Willie O’Connor - when he made the breakthrough to the Kilkenny senior team. What helped him was the profile gained through his involvement in the Fitzgibbon Cup with Waterford IT.

In Waterford, he gained the education which helped him to get his current job with Envirocare, part of the Kingspan Group, and he has always acknowledged that he matured as a hurler there.

“It did help me a lot. It’s a step between U21 and senior. You play in January and February, bad months for games, but it toughens you up. What helps too is that Brian Cody and his selectors see a lot of Fitzgibbon Cup matches. If you hurl well there it puts you in the shop window for the inter-county scene. As they have proven, they’re not afraid to bring lads and throw them in.”

He remains indebted to Cody for having faith in him as a largely unknown 19-year-old, for giving him a chance when he feels he might not have been entitled to it.

“But I did get the chance and he stuck by me. There was some talk about the All-Ireland final last year that he might not continue, but I was delighted he stayed on. He is a great manager.”

As a player, Delaney enjoyed an unblemished record until this year, when he got sent off three times in a short space of time. It was all down to the experimental rules in vogue at the time, happening first in the Walsh Cup final and twice in the league. Interestingly, he doesn’t entirely blame the system for his misfortune.

“The rules were there and the referees were under pressure to enforce them. I had never been sent off before and I was bit embarrassed the first time. But, it shouldn’t have happened. (Virtually) every other player was staying on the field and I had to look at myself. I was saying I was letting down the team by being sent off, that it should not happen again.”

Once more, Kilkenny start into their campaign as league champions. Last season they failed to make the final and in some quarters it was felt that it came against them when they lost to Wexford in the Leinster semi-final. Delaney isn’t so sure if that was the reason for their defeat.

“I don’t know if it came against us. But in the past we found it was good preparation for the championship. You’re playing top-quality matches and meeting teams you could play later on in the season.”

Equally, the introduction of some new players to the squad has had the effect of keeping everybody on their toes. You notice the bite in training, he points out, in the competition for places. And, they are all aware of Cody’s track record for picking players in form.

Yet, it’s not as if the players need an incentive to put in a huge effort, especially after losing to Cork last year.

“Kilkenny have to have the motivation,’ he says. “It’s every player’s goal to win the All-Ireland, but you have your long-term goals and your short-term goals. And our short-term goal is to beat Offaly and go on and take every game as it comes from there ... and hopefully be there on the second Sunday in September.”

Even without Whelahan in the Offaly line-up he believes Kilkenny still face a big threat tomorrow, remembering how competitive Offaly were in the Leinster final last year against Wexford.

“It was going to happen some day, that they would have to go out in Croke Park without him. But, they are a good team, and a young team.”

Kilkenny want the direct route again this year and Leinster medals are still prized, he says, referring to last year when they ended the season without a single trophy. He has three to his name and he wants as many as he can get his hands on - to be able to look back in years to come and appreciate what it meant to win them.

He appreciates that Wexford have to be seen as serious contenders for the provincial title again this year. “They can beat any team on the day and they have proved that in the past,’ he says.

“Galway on their day can beat anyone. It depends on which team turns up. If they’re on song, it’s very hard to stop their forwards, they’re very fast.”

And then there’s Cork, their great rivals, whom they beat in the league in Pairc Ui Chaoimh after powering into an early 10-points lead. “They are reigning champions. They have to be taken as a big threat.”