Henderson: Cats can’t purr forever
“Possibly,” says former hurler-of-the-year Ger Henderson, a selector in the early years under Brian Cody (1999/2000/2001).
“Saturday will tell us so much more. Kilkenny will be very motivated again. In fairness to these lads they’re hugely committed, a brilliant bunch of lads as regards attitude, but the success they’ve had has to come to an end sometime. They can’t stay going forever, that’s not physically possible, to stay winning every year.”
Either way, what has gone is the aura, the intimidation factor the Cats once boasted. “It has, but it had to, and the games are a lot better for it — last year’s championship was a brilliant championship. Kilkenny were winning games too handy and even for our supporters the fun was going out of it. The final against Waterford (2008) was over at half-time and that’s no good either. Contrast that with last year’s championship, probably one of the best ever, and the same is happening again now this year. They’ve been an exceptional group and they could be coming to an end but we won’t rule them out yet, certainly not until after this championship is over.
“Kilkenny will still be hard to beat, they’ll always be competitive under Cody.”
During their years of complete dominance it was a team that almost picked itself, every player a household name, the defence especially. Number two Michael Kavanagh, three Noel Hickey, four Jackie Tyrrell, five Tommy Walsh, six Brian Hogan, seven JJ Delaney. Now two of those great servants — Kavanagh and Hickey — are gone. The other four are still there but no longer manning those familiar positions, wearing those familiar numbers. JJ is at three, Jackie at six, while both Tommy and Brian have fallen out of favour, demoted to the bench, Tommy used as a sub forward in both Kilkenny’s championship games this year. All those too are nearing the end of their careers but, says Fennelly, what careers they’ve had, none more so than his own Fenians clubman, Delaney.
“Ah he’s been brilliant; hadn’t his greatest day last Sunday but I think he’ll be sharper in the replay. Galway probably caught us on the hop a bit, no-one was expecting they’d score three goals in a five minutes. I’m not sure why Brian is playing Jackie at centre-back, he’s been an outstanding corner-back over the years but he’s obviously not happy with them (Brian Hogan and Jackie).
“He’s trying to find a few new players and Pádraig Walsh and Cillian Buckley have both done well on the wings. He tried Lester Ryan at centre-back but that didn’t seem to work. I think Brian Hogan is still a fine centre-back and could be there before the year is out with Jackie back in the corner. You never know but Saturday evening will tell us a lot.”
As to who has the advantage, it’s too close to call. “It could go either way. It looked like Kilkenny had it won the last day and they could still come back and win it. They put a great spell together towards the end when they put that 1-8 without reply on the board and they looked good. I felt they’d see it out but I think they got a bit complacent. It will give Galway heart they kept battling and got a result. A lot depends on which Galway team shows up but I still think Kilkenny can do it. It will probably be a completely different game – I can’t see eight goals being scored anyway, it will be a more tactical game, defences will be more pronounced. Galway will be hoping to keep our forwards quiet, close them down. It’s all to play for again but I hope it’s not the same story as last year for Kilkenny with the extra match, going to put more pressure on them again.
“Win or lose they’re out again the following week. Lose and it’s Tipperary. Win and it’s Dublin in the Leinster final, another hard match. Either way a hard road ahead.”
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