Why Kilkenny won’t repeat in 2012

By way of laying our scene for the new hurling championship, two conversations from the evening of May 6, shortly after the National League final.

The first was with Tom Dempsey, the second a textual communication from a young man in south Tipperary.

Dempsey was on his way out of the Old Stand at Semple Stadium when he paused for a moment, having just witnessed a cut-and-paste Kilkenny destroy a near-full strength Cork. “This is killing hurling,” he said with a sigh.