As a spectacle this took some beating, but cold analysis in Cork will reveal harsh truths

Cork manager Kieran Kingston and Patrick Horgan celebrate after the game. Picture: INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan

Paraphrase Louis McNeice if you want to try and sift through the chaos of Sunday in Croke Park: Hurling is crazier and more of it than we think, incorrigibly plural.

Everything about this All-Ireland semi-final, though, is reverse-engineered from its finish. Cork six up with seven minutes left, three up with nothing left, and yet Kilkenny equalise.

The most barnacle-encrusted cliché in Gaelic games is that Kilkenny never give up, but at this stage it’s surely established to the point where any further flourishes in that regard seem unnecessary.

Adrian Mullen’s dramatic late strike gave us another 20 minutes, but the Munster side finished the job and qualified for a first All-Ireland final since 2013.

Jack O’Connor’s goal was the stamp on their passport to the big show: the Sarsfields youngster entered the game with a growing reputation but struggled to break free until late on, when he seared through for the score that finally turned the proceedings his side’s way.

As a spectacle it took some beating, but on Leeside cold analysis will reveal some harsh truths. Cork butchered enough goal chances to win a couple of games, not counting a sensational save by Eoin Murphy of Kilkenny. If they had taken even one of those chances the extra 20 minutes wouldn’t have been necessary. Not closing out those final seconds had uncomfortable resonances of 2018, or even the two goals leaked in first-half injury time to Limerick earlier this year.

ARM IN ARM: Cork manager Kieran Kingston with selector Diarmuid O’Sullivan after their extra-time victory over Kilkenny in the All-Ireland SHC semi-final at Croke Park. Picture: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

The reviews of the game in Kilkenny won’t be any more encouraging. Before the game there was a general expectation that one team would attempt to carve open their opponents by unleashing raw pace down the centre. However the allotted roles were reversed just nine minutes in when Kilkenny’s TJ Reid thundered through, only to be called back for overcarrying.

However, Reid, probably the best fielder of long deliveries in the business, spent little time testing out Cork’s full-back line until late on, and the winners were probably far happier to see him floating around the middle of the field.

By the time the Kilkenny icon was stationed near the Cork goal Robert Downey was dominating in the air and on the ground, ably backed by Niall O’Leary and Sean O’Donoghue. With substitute Shane Kingston untouchable up front, drifting across the half-forward line with O’Connor, Cork’s alignment clicked and got them over the line.

It was a game of surges all through, from minute one to minute ninety. From the start it was a matter of swapping the initiative and making the most of your period of supremacy when on top.

Kilkenny started with a smooth procession through the gears to lead, then Cork took charge to nudge ahead. Turn and turn again.

In that first half, however, Kilkenny were notably wasteful — by Kilkenny standards, obviously — hitting eight wides to Cork’s three. For all that the Leinster side were able to score easier: their forwards could operate profitably as sole traders, whereas Cork’s attack needed to work in a co-operative.

With the exception of their captain, of course. Patrick Horgan carried the fight to Kilkenny and fittingly had the last point of the half: the Glen Rovers man may be nearer the exit now than the entrance, but his 15 points were an ornament to the occasion.

The second half followed a remarkably similar pattern —Kilkenny hit five points a row, then Cork did; with neither side able to put daylight between them until Cork made their burst with ten minutes left.

Kilkenny remained calm, without forcing goal chances, until Adrian Mullen’s late, late — very late — strike gave us 20 more minutes.

Brian Cody acknowledged that Jack O’Connor goal as the significant score after the game.

“Yeah, they played out extra-time very well, obviously,” said the Kilkenny boss.

“It was one of those games where we had chances at different times in the game, they had chances as well, it kind of ebbed and flowed a fair bit.

Kilkenny's Richie Hogan and Niall O'Leary of Cork. Picture: INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan

“It obviously looked coming to the end of normal time that they were going to win it in normal time, but we scored a very good goal to bring it to extra-time.

“We started extra-time pretty well, as it went on then the goal was a huge score for them, and they just had that breathing space and they just played it out very well after that.”

One of the Cork heroes cited his side’s experience in playing extra time afterwards.

“We’ve had extra-time before back in 2018 (the All-Ireland semi-final loss to Limerick),” said Shane Kingston.

“We’ve trained hard enough since the start of December. We knew we had it in the tank so it was just about showing it out on the pitch for the last 20.

“For the majority of us, bar the few old fellas, it’s our first time. We’ll do what we can over the next two weeks to put ourselves in the best position going into the game against Limerick.”

Kingston contributed seven points as a substitute but naturally enough had hopes of a start in the final: “I kind of knew at the start of the week I wasn’t going to be playing,” the Douglas man told RTÉ.

“I got lucky in a few games getting a goal a game but I knew myself I wasn’t performing so it was fair enough.

“I didn’t mind but when I got the chance to come on I just wanted to prove it. Hopefully I will be playing again the next day.”

For good or ill this game took place in a large shadow, that cast by the previous day’s winners. Limerick. Depending on the metrics you favour, it was either a far better game or a couple of levels below Saturday evening’s semi-final, and perhaps another couple of days are needed to evaluate this epic.

The reigning champions gave a master class in suppressing Waterford, absorbing the physical challenge before applying their own game plan, but will Cork ask a different question? A difference in kind and not degree?

Kilkenny's Cillian Buckley dejected after the game. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Limerick’s physical power and adroit support play is a system they’ve perfected, but Cork may not engage on those terms, preferring to use their speed. That’s easier said than done, of course. Cork’s game management also needs addressing in the next fortnight, with players switching off for Kilkenny sideline cuts and losing their men on some puck-outs. Limerick are likely to punish those indiscretions with extreme prejudice.

Revisiting the sides’ clash in the Munster championship earlier in the summer may also offer both Kieran Kingston and John Kiely hints at the approach to be taken in two weeks’ time.

It’ll be here soon enough. As McNeice also said, the world is suddener than we fancy it.