Cats may be down but they’re not out

That hoary old headline — END OF AN ERA — is certain to find a few homes in the aftermath of Kilkenny’s defeat to Dublin in Saturday’s night Leinster senior hurling championship semi-final.

You won’t read it here though, not yet anyway.

There is no questioning the fact that Kilkenny aren’t the dominant force they were for so many years in the Brian Cody era. It’s true they won another Allianz Hurling League title this year, their seventh under Cody, and despite this loss on Saturday evening, they are still in the hunt to retain their All-Ireland title, their ninth such crown since Cody took charge in 1998. Lately though, they’ve started losing games at a rate not seen in a long while.