Elated Keane hails ‘special bunch of lads’
After a very poor season by their own standards, on and off the field, an All-Ireland title of any description can only help to start the healing process. On a wider scale, however, with Kilkenny bidding to repeat last year’s Grand Slam of titles at minor, U21, intermediate and senior, the hurling world needed someone to step forward and challenge the absolute dominance of the Cats.
Cork manager Johnny Keane was aware of the connotations, but confident he had the team to do the business, He said: “Cork needed this All-Ireland, badly. We knew at the start of the year that we had a special bunch of lads. We knew we had the talent, but we knew they had the right attitude. I’m involved for six years, and I know intermediate isn’t the highest grade you can play, but it was taken very seriously this year.
