Sky’s the limit for Cats

LEINSTER SHC QUARTER-FINAL:

The difference of course is that Kilkenny juggernaut doesn’t stop, the Kilkenny assassins show no mercy. So it was that Offaly were annihilated, so it was that even James was beaten, twice in the first half as Kilkenny raced into a game-ending 2-22 to 0-6 half-time lead, then thrice more (Mark Kelly with a brace) as they continued their bombardment into the second half, all the way to the death.

You couldn’t but feel for the many tricolour-clad Offaly supporters lost in the midst of the 11,841 who had turned up; most especially, you couldn’t but feel for the 15 on the field and most of all, for the man on the sideline, Brian Whelahan. Under Brian, their greatest ever player, this was to be a new era for Offaly hurling — hell, it was to be a new ear for hurling itself, the Sky cameras in position for the first time at a GAA match. Oh, the disappointment, not least for Brian.

“Very disappointing to be honest. We believed that Kilkenny would come out with all guns blazing down here and try and put on a show and ratchet up a big score, so we hurled with an extra man in defence (that was corner-forward Kevin Connolly). The plan was to contain that start that Kilkenny were hoping to get off to. Didn’t happen.”

A bit of an understatement. It did work for a while, all of ten minutes, at which time Kilkenny were only a point ahead (four to three). Then came the blitz, five unanswered points from the sharpshooting infantry (TJ Reid, Eoin Larkin, Wally Walsh, Colin Fennelly and Richie Hogan), the panzer division — goal each from Larkin and Colin Fennelly — and then the air-strikes, ten more points before the break. Game over.

While Dempsey was performing his heroics in goal, veteran Rory Hanniffy stood tall at full-back while up front, corner-forward was the lone beacon. Three points he poached in that ball-starved first half, added a further 1-7 in the second. Even in that second half there were pockets of resistance everywhere, the likes of Cathal Parlon, Conor Mahon, Sean Ryan showing flashes of defiance. But they were outgunned.

“I suppose Kilkenny opened us up at ease at times in the first-half. It was a little bit soul-destroying at half-time facing that lead, I suppose at that stage we were almost looking from the point of view of qualifiers and just trying to take something from the game for that.

“As a proud Offaly man, it’s going to be hard to come out of this and pick the lads up. We can bury our heads in the sand for the year or we can try and restore a bit of pride in the jersey come the next round.”

The contribution of Dempsey/Hanniffy/Carroll apart, they took practically nothing and the hurt was obvious as they trooped out afterwards to the team bus. As he had done on the field, it was left to Brian Carroll to speak for them all.

“We’re hugely disappointed, Kilkenny never stopped going for the 70 minutes and we got a lesson in movement. From midfield up they completely overpowered us — Lester Ryan popping up at the edge of the square, Mark Kelly when he moved outfield getting two goals. We certainly got a lesson. This wasn’t a pretty day for Offaly hurling, it’s going to take a lot of soul-searching, a lot of hard work.

“All we can do is look to the qualifiers but that’s just a small stepping-stone, Offaly have much greater problems than that at the moment and we’re going to have to really look at if for the future or there will be no future for Offaly hurling.”

As for Brian Cody? Job done, no more, no less. “We just prepared for the opening game of the championship, which happened to be against Offaly. Last year we went up to Tullamore to play them and were hit early with goals, put us under severe pressure.

” We prepared seriously for the game. They started off strongly but we got on top early, we did win it well. The reality now is we’re facing a serious game against Galway in two weeks. What I wanted was our players to go out and perform at a serious level and I’m happy that they did that, regardless of the opposition.”

Scorers for Kilkenny: E Larkin 2-4; C Fennelly 1-6; M Kelly 2-0; TJ Reid 0-6 (2f); R Hogan 0-4; W Walsh 0-4; A Fogarty 0-3; L Ryan 0-2; M Fennelly 0-2; P Murphy 0-1.

Scorers for Offaly: B Carroll 1-10 (6f); S Dooley, C Mahon, D Currams, J Bergin, S Ryan, C Parlon, R Hanniffy, S Quirke, 0-1 each.

Kilkenny: E Murphy; P Murphy, JJ Delaney, B Kennedy; P Walsh, J Tyrrell, C Buckley; L Ryan (c), R Hogan; W Walsh, M Fennelly, TJ Reid; C Fennelly, M Kelly, E Larkin.

Subs: K Joyce for Kennedy (27); T Walsh for C Fennelly (49); B Hogan for P Walsh (50); A Fogarty for Reid (inj. 57); JJ Farrell for M Fennelly (61).

Offaly: J Dempsey; N Wynne, R Hanniffy, J Rigney; B Harding, D Morkan, C Parlon; C Mahon, S Ryan; J Bergin (c), D Currams, P Geraghty; K Connolly, S Dooley, B Carroll.

Subs: C McDonald for Rigney (26); S Quirke for Connolly (35); T Geraghty for P Geraghty (35); G Healion for Harding (53); C Slevin for Bergin (61).

Referee: J Owens (Wexford).