Cats enjoy quiet before storm

It might be All-Ireland semi-final week, one of the biggest days in the hurling calendar coming up this Sunday with the meeting of reigning champions Kilkenny and their erstwhile challengers Tipperary in Croke Park, but don’t expect to be seeing too many Kilkenny players featuring in your papers this week.

It’s a matter of choice, says centre-back Brian Hogan, their reaction to what happened to them in the first half of the Leinster final of July 1 when Galway did unto Kilkenny what Kilkenny had done to so many teams over the past 13 seasons: pulverised them.

It was 20 minutes before Kilkenny had their first score, a Henry Shefflin pointed free; 2-11 to 0-1 after 30 minutes and 2-12 to 0-4 at half time. These are the kind of numbers Kilkenny are used to putting up on other teams.