Kilkenny’s hunger for success is back

All eyes turn to Páirc Uí Chaoimh again this Sunday for the Munster hurling final, but it will be a contest shadowed by the suspicion that a feared foe is waiting on the far side of the provincial border.

Kilkenny’s improvement this summer has been obvious, even if Galway rallied from nine points down the first day in Tullamore and last Sunday’s defeat of Dublin in the Leinster decider was solid rather than spectacular. TJ Reid, pictured, accepted both points yesterday after being named as the Opel GAA/GPA player of the month for June, but still offered the noteworthy observation that Brian Cody’s men were purring along in, not fifth, but sixth gear.

“It’s happy days,” he said. “Leinster final, we hadn’t won it since 2011 and we didn’t get to Croke Park last year so there was a lot of soul-searching last year, a lot of heads down. We’re very grateful we have the Bob O’Keeffe at home again.

“We let ourselves down last year, totally. We let our supporters down, but the person who knows the most is yourself. Last year totally didn’t go our way. This year there is a lot of work, just a different attitude. The hunger is back. Like a good champion you always come back the year after fighting harder.”

Reid was one of a number of players operating at less than full tilt in 2013. Having broken a kneecap in the 2012 All-Ireland final, he only started running again in April and the net effect was a reduced capacity just when full pelt was required.

Until the evisceration of Offaly, players weighed down with medals and All Stars were suddenly pinpointed as potential weak points, among them the defensive stalwarts that have been, and still are, Jackie Tyrrell and JJ Delaney.

“Those question marks were there because of their age,” said Reid, “they weren’t looking at their hurling ability at all. Jackie is one of the strongest and fittest around the country. You won’t beat him easily and JJ will beat you on a low ball or high ball and he certainly hasn’t lost his pace.

“People were asking would they last the 70 minutes out in Croke Park and they answered those questions fairly quickly, so they did. Those boys are dedicated to the game and they are fit and fast and in four weeks’ time they will be flying in Croke Park again.”