Johnny Crowley: It’s going to be a big battle

Johnny Crowley’s too long on the road to buy what you’re selling.

Kilkenny down a baker’s dozen of their All-Ireland squad, venturing south to take on a Cork team with a point to prove; it’s advantage to the Leesiders, surely?

“Any Kilkenny team that comes to town, they’re always very strong,” says the Cork selector.

“They’re not coming down to make up the numbers and the guys coming down are probably coming to make a name for themselves, to prove a point to Brian Cody and his selectors they should be playing, so they could be even more determined than the lads who’d line out if they had everyone.

"It’s going to be a big battle, given the success they’ve had in the last few years the 30 players they have on their panel would be on any other panel or team in the country.

"There’s no question about their strength.”

Kilkenny pulled out of the Walsh Cup in sympathy with last year’s captain, Lester Ryan, whose father was killed in an accident last month. It means they haven’t much game time coming into the league.

“We were all very sorry to hear that, and our sympathies go to the Ryan family,” said Crowley.

“In terms of games and so on, for a team that’s been on the road for as long as Kilkenny, missing a few games can help a little bit sometimes. In terms of their general fitness, they wouldn’t need a whole lot at this time of the year because of all they’ve done over the last few seasons.

“Obviously they might be a little short on match practice because they didn’t have a pre-season tournament to rely on, but that’s not always a huge disadvantage. There’s a lot to be said for freshness, too.”

Cork had a very different preamble to tonight’s game. After the disappointment of last August’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Tipp, the Rebel selectors were keen to cast the net wide in terms of finding talent. The Waterford Crystal tournament fitted the bill in that regard.

“We had something specific in mind in that the extra lads we brought in, we tried to give them three games anyway to have a look at them, and we did. In that sense it was a different exercise for us than it would have been to Kilkenny in the Walsh Cup.

"We would have liked to win the final once we got into it, obviously, but it’s not the end of the world we didn’t either.”

It wouldn’t be the end of the world if they lost their league opener either, but Crowley warns one defeat early on can crank up the pressure on a team trying to avoid relegation from Division 1A.

“There’s a huge incentive to get off to a winning start, because the league is so tight. In some ways it might be more important to win your home games — we have three hard home games (Kilkenny, Tipperary and Clare) and winning those would be very good. We have Galway and Dublin away, so those games won’t be easy either.

"The issue is if you lose your first game you’re down two points, you’re under pressure and you’re looking over your shoulder. It’s easy for the league to run away from you a little bit if that happens, so we’ll be keen to avoid that happening with a good start.”