Motivated Cats’ eyes on the prize, says Fogarty

IF you think that holders Kilkenny won’t be as psyched up taking on Limerick, as say Cork or Waterford in Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC final, then you’re sadly mistaken.

Selector and former U-21 coach Martin Fogarty explained: “Our guys want to beat them every bit as much as they wanted to beat Cork last year — because the prize is the same.

“Lads are always trying to give themselves reasons to win, but I would always maintain that the promise of an All-Ireland medal is as good as it gets. People can say you have added reasons, but how much more water can you put into a bucket when it’s full? A lad can only give 100%. People talk about 110% but I don’t think it exists.’’

While the Kilkenny public may have been gearing themselves up for a final against Waterford, Fogarty insists that this was never on the management’s agenda.

“Our aim was to get there. It didn’t really matter who was going to be there,’’ he commented.

“We don’t focus too much on the opposition, we concentrate mostly on getting our own team right.

“We would believe that if we can get our players up to the max — playing to full potential, then they’re going to be a handful for any team. That would always be our focus.

“Last year, we knew definitely we were going to compete very strongly in the final because in training the boys were giving it their all. We knew we were going to be hard to beat, but you couldn’t say we were going to win it. You’d be foolish to say that, because you needed to get the breaks...’’

Despite the fact that Waterford had been generally favoured to make it to the final, Fogarty says that their players ‘would have rated’ both teams.

“The boys who would have played against them over the years would say it wasn’t a surprise. In 2005, we played Limerick in the quarter-final and as far as I remember, with 10 or 15 minutes to go there were three or four points in it. And there had been a few shaky manoeuvres around our goal mouth.’’

What impresses him most about the current outfit is that they are strong and physical — that they have ‘a great mixture of strong men, hurlers, fast lads and, even in a nice sort of a way, cheeky lads’.

“Waterford were the same — a lad will go for a goal when you think maybe he’s going to take a point.

“Limerick have that and they play off the cuff. When you get a team that can play with abandon, they can be very hard to beat.

“Cork learned that last year when they beat them by a point in the quarter-final.

“The big banana skin for Waterford this year was the huge psycho-logical thing to be ready for Cork, having beaten them twice already (League and Munster semi-finals). At the back of your mind, you’re thinking, ‘surely they’re not going to beat us when we really need to beat them’.

“That put a huge mental strain on them to be able to get over that. And when they got over it they had Limerick waiting in the long grass — and only a week to prepare.

“To get up for that mentally was always going to be difficult. I’m sure Waterford would have rated Limerick highly, but all their focus was so much on Cork. It was going to take until Wednesday to let it sink in that they had beaten Cork and then you’re trying to get your head around Limerick.

“All credit to Waterford, they came back strongly but Limerick were on a roll and their blood was up. They have had a famine for a long number of years. Suddenly they got a smell of an All-Ireland and the crowd got behind them.

“No matter how good you are, when the unexpected happens and you are out there in Croke Park in front of 82,000 people you can’t run into the dressing room and re-group.

“You have to deal with it there and then — and human nature being what it is, it’s not easy.’’

While it’s generally accepted that Galway gave the Cats their only testing game, Fogarty argues that Offaly were ‘with them’ for 40 minutes in the Leinster semi-final.

“We give every team we meet tremendous regard. Offaly have a decent team. Maybe we were more experienced, but had we not come out with all guns blazing, they could have turned us over.

“You can’t ever drop your guard. Kilkenny have to go out against Limerick firing on all cylinders and then they have to hope to get a few breaks. The bunch of players we have at the moment — it’s due to Brian and to (trainers) Michael Dempsey and Noel Richardson. They are constantly striving for excellence and constantly demanding top effort. And the players are happy to give it.

“When you are getting that, you know you are going to be at the table. That’s as good as it gets. But whether you get the dinner or not — well that’s another day’s work!’’