JJ Delaney worried about Kilkenny’s broken spine
When Henry Shefflin talked up Limerick’s All-Ireland credentials earlier this week, he kept referencing the spine of their team.
“They have that very strong spine down the middle,” said Shefflin, outlining how important a strong ‘three and six’ are in particular to any side serious about winning the MacCarthy Cup.
Unfortunately for Shefflin’s own county, Kilkenny, they are in danger of entering the championship having had their entire backbone stripped out.
A fortnight out from facing a pumped up and ambitious Dublin at Nowlan Park, there are giant question marks over players who’d been expected to man the central positions in Brian Cody’s team.
Goalkeeper Eoin Murphy (knee), full-back Conor Delaney (broken leg), centre-back Cillian Buckley (knee), midfielder James Maher (ankle) and key attacker Richie Hogan (back) are all nursing injuries.
Former U21 star Delaney, 2018 captain Buckley and the versatile Maher appear to be definitely unavailable while reigning All-Star Murphy and 2014 Hurler of the Year Hogan are being monitored.
“It’s the spine of your team that’s nearly gone there,” said JJ Delaney, who retired from Kilkenny duty in 2014 as the reigning All-Star full-back.
Goalkeeper, full-back, centre-back, maybe centre-forward, the centre of the team. We could do with a bit of luck. But the match will go ahead. Fifteen hurlers will go out and it could be an opportunity for a fella like Huw Lawlor to come back in there at full-back again. In the first half of the league he was very good there.
Pádraig Walsh could plug the full-back gap either having featured there before though Delaney reckons his talents would be wasted in a firefighting role.
“I’d prefer to see him in the half-back line,” said the nine-time All-Ireland winner. “Huw did well, even on John Conlon against Clare. He managed him fairly well. John Conlon at the moment is probably the pick of the full-forwards out there, him and Seamie Callanan.
“So I would give Huw a go there if Conor is not back and leave Pádraig out on the wing. Pádraig hits a lot of ball at wing-back. He gets a couple of points as well. He’s too important for this Kilkenny team going forward.”
Cody does have some options then but nothing like the embarrassment of riches at his disposal during their glory era a decade ago.
As Tommy Walsh stated earlier this year, Kilkenny didn’t have just one matchwinner in their ranks back then, ‘we had six or seven at the one time’.
Perhaps the real genius of Cody will be seen this summer if he can still be successful with a less talented, shallower panel.
“I don’t think any panel can afford to lose any players, but especially not Kilkenny,” said Delaney, giving a nod to the challenge they already faced in attempting to climb back up the rankings.
“But it’s out of Brian’s control, he’s going to have to deal with it. Hopefully some of them will be back before the Dublin match.
“Dublin coming to Nowlan Park, you saw what happened against Dublin last year, how tight it was. Your home games, you have to win them, you have to win every single one of them.
“If they don’t win that one, they have to go down to Wexford Park then and get a result which would be really tough.
So it’s vitally important they hit the ground running in that first game. You saw what Dublin did in the league. They can play it tactically, they can play with a sweeper, they can play 15 on 15. It’ll be interesting to see what they bring to the table as well.
Those outside Kilkenny will greet news of crisis in the Cats camp with a raised eyebrow. They’ve still got the greatest manager of all time on the sideline, TJ Reid up front and only last month Ballyhale Shamrocks won the AIB All-Ireland club title.
“Realistically you’ll have two starters (from Ballyhale); Colin Fennelly and TJ, Joey Holden could get himself into the reckoning as well,” said Delaney, suggesting it’s too early for ex-minor sensation Adrian Mullen who struggled in a recent challenge against Cork.
“I don’t think Adrian Mullen will start. He’s definitely an option for the last 10 minutes. When the whole thing is a bit loose, he could come on and get a few scores.
“But it’s a bit too soon for him. Ballyhale maybe went a bit too well for his own personal development. You’d like to have seen him get a few league games, to see how he’d get on. But it’s too soon for him to start a championship game, but a great option to come on.”
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