Beware the tides of March

A THIRD win for unbeaten Cork in the National Hurling League, a second defeat for Kilkenny – is hurling witnessing a turning of the tide?

Not so fast lads, not so fast. On the surface you might think so, but consider the circumstances. Kilkenny are indeed reigning National League and All-Ireland champions, have been supreme for the last four seasons, but, even after losses to Tipperary and Cork in consecutive weeks, any thought that they might be struggling is nonsensical.

They came to Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday still without the services of Michael Kavanagh, Noel Hickey, Cha Fitzpatrick, Derek Lyng, Michael Fennelly, Henry Shefflin, Martin Comerford and TJ Reid. Michael Rice – their leading forward last week – was ruled out by injury, Eoin Larkin is still working his way back to full fitness after coming back from injury, and Eddie Brennan only came on as a late sub, making his first appearance of the new year. Then, there was the little matter of a 27 points humiliation at Nowlan Park last year to be avenged by Cork, who were roared on by a partisan home crowd of over 10,000.Finally, compounding all Kilkenny’s problems, after a bit of a skirmish between several players just before half-time, corner-forward Michael Grace received a red card (harshly as he wasn’t any more culpable than several others), reducing the Cats to 14 for the remainder of the game.