Kilkenny tear Offaly to shreds

Kilkenny 6-20 Offaly 0-14: Ger Loughnane probably hasn’t changed his mind just yet, but Kilkenny’s players at least left the Clare legend with a little something to think about at Nowlan Park.

Loughnane essentially said in the run up to the game that Kilkenny are blessed to have two gifted attackers in TJ Reid and Richie Hogan and that without them they’d be nowhere. To be specific, he said the Cats were “totally dependent on TJ Reid, one forward, and maybe Richie Hogan, as well”.

That barb was surely ringing in the Kilkenny’s players ears as, with Reid and Hogan rested, they strode to a 24-point demolition of Offaly, securing a semi-final place alongside Loughnane’s native Clare in the process.