Don’t dismiss a double-K ambush

In an old Zane Grey western they’d have been the double-K, the biggest and baddest ranch around, gobbling up all the land and cattle in the region, KK their brand.

They would have been the dominant force for years, losing the occasional skirmish but maintaining their status, lords of all they surveyed. Until one fateful day along came these two young kids with big ambitions, faster guns, and the double-K was in trouble.

In the more mundane world of the GAA there is another double-K brand – Kerry and Kilkenny. The Kingdom are leaders of the All-Ireland senior football roll of honour, way out on their own with 36 titles, Dublin trailing with a very impressive 23. In hurling it’s Kilkenny, 33 titles.

In the millennium year of 2000 both came through to win their respective All-Ireland titles; in the years since both have been the dominant forces, Kilkenny very much so with a further seven titles, Kerry operating in an arguably far more competitive environment and thus confined to ‘only’ a further four.

This year, however, there have been signs of fallibility. First it was Kerry, falling to old rivals Cork in the Munster semi-final back on June 10 on a scoreline of 0-17 to 0-12, two of their main men up front, Paul Galvin and Kieran Donaghy, called ashore early. Then it was the turn of Kilkenny, shellacked in the first half of the Leinster final by Galway, a scarcely credible half-time deficit of 2-12 to 0-4, a deficit from which there was no way back.

Though struggling against Westmeath in Mullingar, Kerry subsequently seemed to have rediscovered their old form, an emphatic trouncing of old nemesis Tyrone in the final All-Ireland qualifying round followed by a disdainful dismissal of Clare. Then came Donegal in last week’s All-Ireland quarter-final, however, the new gun, the fast gun, the ambitious kid from the north and on a famous afternoon in the Croke Park Corral Kerry were shot down.

Meanwhile Kilkenny too were on the All-Ireland trail, met another young gun, Limerick, in the quarter-final and for 40 minutes of that duel Kilkenny looked very much in trouble. Eventually their experience won out, they lived to tell the tale, but next Sunday, back in Croke Park, they come up against the Tipperary Kid, against whom they have already fallen once. Begs the question, then – are we about to see the end of not one, but two dynasties, the end of the GAA’s double-K?

The signs are ominous.

All good things come to an end and even the most dominant of empires has eventually been brought down. Whether that’s from external attack or from inside decay, no matter; no-one rules forever.

Kilkenny though... there’s something different about this outfit. Even given the comparative degree of difficulty between hurling and football, the fact Kerry were always more likely to have more competition (though a number of us hurling-heads would argue the toss on that one!), the Kingdom were never as dominant through the last dozen years as were Kilkenny.

It wasn’t just the eight All-Ireland titles, it was the manner of those wins, the pulverising of the opposition in game after game, the scoring records set and then set again.

Since 2000 Kilkenny have also won six league titles, 11 Leinster senior crowns; they’ve added two intermediate All-Irelands, four U21s, four minors, five Walsh Cups. Against that intimidating list Kerry have three leagues, one junior football All-Ireland, and one U21 All-Ireland.

Put all of that together, it points to one thing — Kilkenny will not be going away anytime soon. Allied to all the above they have Brian Cody, who has been at the helm throughout this period.

There is a continuity in Kilkenny that isn’t in Kerry — there is a very solid underage foundation on which to continue building and expanding the empire — witness the fact that his is now a very different team to that which started 12 years ago, even to the team that won the All-Ireland title of six years ago.

They’re vulnerable again, that’s the worst that can be said about them, they’re not as intimidating an outfit as in previous years, the aura of invincibility broken by Tipperary in the All-Ireland final of 2010, by Dublin in the Allianz hurling league final of 2011, by Galway in the Leinster final of 2012.

But, one common factor in all those losses — Kilkenny were weakened by the absence of key players. They won’t be weakened next Sunday — au contraire, they are strengthened by the return to match fitness of all their own big guns. No, it ain’t over yet fella!