Far from their best, but Kilkenny still had plenty left in the tank

Kilkenny 0-21 Galway 1-14: Scoreboards, as we know, aren’t always the most accurate metrics of margins between teams. The one in Nowlan Park yesterday told a lie. Four points may have been the margin at the end but the real gap was far wider.

Kilkenny were nine points to the good nine minutes into the second half and coasting when there was a notable drop in the intensity that had characterised their performance up to that stage.

They endured that blip but not without some discomfort as Joe Canning fired over four points and wing-back Paul Hoban managed to find the net in the 57th minute in a period of dominance that belied what Galway had mustered up until then.