Clever Catsgot tactics spot on to beat Rebels

THE title of a new movie came to mind at last Sunday’s All-Ireland hurling final: The Squid and the Whale.

Cork, reliant on the momentum generated by a great mass in forward motion, were the whale. Kilkenny, withdrawing to counterattack up the wings on Cork’s puckout, resembled the squid, flexing its tentacles along the sides of an opponent.

In the movie, the two ocean dwellers make up an exhibit at a New York museum, locked in perpetual if indecisive combat, but last Sunday there was a clear winner, and Kilkenny were deserving victors.