Talking points: Cork’s dominance in the puckout stakes ultimately throttled Kilkenny’s hopes

Séamus Harnedy of Cork in action against Eoin Cody of Kilkenny. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Cork defence

Much of the reason why the 2010s remained an All-Ireland desert for Cork hurling lay in an inability to defend, consistently, as a unit.

Most of top level defending amounts to a form of housekeeping, repeatedly doing the correct thing, the expected thing. Avoiding basic errors, such as having two men contesting a high ball or passing infield under pressure, remains the heart of not getting shattered. Precious little can be done about a forward’s flash of genius. All the while, bread and butter details are a defence’s champion diet.

For Cork, this defensive weakness is all but eliminated. Composure in defence granted them the platform required to overcome Kilkenny by a fully deserved five point margin.

Doubts have been aired, say, about Mark Coleman at centre back. The flipside of seeing the Blarney clubman as a wing back shoehorned into the centre is that he has no problem reverting to his former role.

Kieran Kingston and colleagues decided on Ger Millerick as TJ Reid’s initial marker.

Any time Reid stood at centre forward, Millerick followed. Coleman, therefore, spent most of his time at right half back, to good effect. He even managed a splendid point, surging upfield in the 37th minute.

More importantly, Cork’s defending held up, literally, in the 10th minute. Reid lanced towards goal but was caught by a combination of Coleman and Darragh Fitzgibbon, pacy enough to defend without fouling while running towards their own posts. Here is one of the game’s most difficult skills.

Reid got blown for steps and his opponents swelled in belief.

A river flows downhill but must rise somewhere. On this occasion, many of Cork’s eye-catching scores derived from a deep defensive source. Item: Shane Kingston’s 60th minute effort, the fourth one in a seven point haul, finished a move that had begun with Eoin Cody getting dispossessed in a promising position upfront.

The Cork defence tapped the source. Then the Cork attack had Kilkenny at sea.

Kilkenny puckouts

While there are many reasons why Cork triumphed, Kilkenny’s analysis will need to look in detail at performance on their own puckout.

This deficiency is not a new one, a one day malfunction. The two games played to win 2021’s Leinster Championship demonstrated that Kilkenny experience serious difficulty in harvesting possession on their restarts once the ball is delivered long. This weekend’s outing against Cork laminated that pattern.

One stretch of this All-Ireland semi-final will chafe the necessary analysis.

Between the 60th and 67th minutes, Eoin Murphy went long with six puckouts. Each one was gathered by the opposition’s defence and a fresh attack initiated.

There is a strong sense in which the winners, but for Adrian Mullen’s wonder goal at the death, seized the day during this period.

Shane Kingston slotted his 60th minute opportunity for a two point lead, 0-24 to 0-22. Three minutes later, the gap had broadened to six points, 0-28 to 0-22, after Kingston rose another white flag.

Cork’s dominance in the puckout stakes ultimately throttled Kilkenny’s hopes. Until the Leinster champions establish means of improving in this area, they will find acquiring a 37th senior title the recalcitrant side of difficult.

TJ Reid, their most accomplished fetcher of possession, will be 34 in November. Walter Walsh, despite his height, has never been a reliable puckout target. The irony is that such difficulties accrued on an afternoon when Eoin Murphy reaffirmed his credentials as hurling’s finest 21st century goalkeeper.

Key interactions between tactics and personnel will never become irrelevant. There will be a long winter in Kilkenny, reflecting on where they can improve, how they can improve. The puckout aspect of their senior panel’s approach needs to be stripped down, refurbished and polished.

History boys

Cork and Kilkenny is one of the GAA’s most celebrated rivalries.

This particular history stands long and stands rich. The Leinster men beat these opponents to record their first two senior victories, in 1904 and 1905. At that point, the Munster men already owned six senior titles.

For most of the 20th century, Cork were nearly always ahead on the roll of honour.

But Kilkenny’s extraordinary 21st century surge, 11 triumphs in the 16 seasons between 2000 and 2015, reset the relationship. Not all of the reset proved harmonious.

This meeting of the counties felt not just like another chapter but also like a change in tone. There was an end of era feel to the Kilkenny camp. They may have to go sideways before powering forward again in time.

For sure, this result salved a lot of Cork hurt.

At its onset, 2021 represented the county facing into a 16th season without the Liam MacCarthy Cup. The place rightly loves its own pedigree and does not want to exceed the dearth experienced between 1903 and 1919.

There are people who reckon taking on Limerick in the 2021 All-Ireland final is hurling’s version of a fool’s errand. No one in Cork, though. They will travel on merit, nothing daunted.

They will be wearing not motley but blood and bandage.