TJ Reid showed the timelessness of talent in Croke Park in every move

As Ring once said of himself, Reid is now pushing up close to the shilling gate, but his ability to win primary possession remains keen. The distribution was at the standard he’s set for a decade or more

TIMELESS: Kilkenny’s Tj Reid celebrates scoring a point. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie

The narrative which gathered steam since the Munster final - which had surfaced during the Munster final, to be accurate - held that the sturm und drang served up by Limerick and Clare that day was several levels above the fare produced by Kilkenny and Galway in the Leinster final.

Therefore, the logic went, when Clare mobilised their troops for the Leinster champions, reaching that level once again would suffice to dismiss Kilkenny. After five minutes we had a first sighting, or hearing, of My Lovely Rose of Clare. All going according to plan, then. All in keeping with the logic.

Of course, this logic was long forgotten at about ten past six, when Kilkenny were just the fourteen points ahead of Clare in the All-Ireland semi-final, 1-17 to 0-6. The Banner had one forward on the scoreboard from play and were lucky, frankly, that the gap wasn’t even wider. By the end it wasn't much better: 2-26 to 0-20.

In retrospect, the Munster final wasn’t overvalued. Perhaps we undervalued Brian Cody’s ability to bring a team to the perfect pitch.

Suggestions in Croke Park that Kilkenny would show the benefit of several weeks’ focus under the old master were borne out in the game, and how. The stripey men have always been models of efficiency but their scoring yesterday was like a briefing note for finance ministers everywhere. Whether through quick thinking at sidelines or recycling goal shots into points, they quarried scores out of unpromising culs de sac all over Croke Park.

The evidence was everywhere, like one of Sherlock Holmes’ crime scenes. Only more so.

“Up to the Leinster final we were playing more or less every week, which gives limited time - no time, really - for training,” said Cody himself.

“We have great emphasis on our panel at all times, so that gave a chance to everyone on the panel to get out there and work for the team, to put their hands up to make a claim for a starting place.

“I know everyone wants to talk about a settled team, but I make clear that I’m only interested in a settled panel, everyone fighting for their place and knowing if we put them on - who knows what team we’ll pick for the next day, but it’s whatever team we pick is the right team to pick.

“It’s about having that absolute spirit in the whole panel, where everybody respects everybody else’s opportunity - that if they earn the right to play they should play.” 

Kilkenny certainly took all the opportunities on offer. Late in the half, for instance, David Fitzgerald bore down on the Kilkenny goal but Clare butchered the half-chance at goal; four snappy passes later and Adrian Mullen was calmly pointing into the Railway End.

The scoring sequence in that first half will make grim reading for Clare: 7-2 down on 14 minutes, 13-5 in arrears on 26 minutes, and 1-17 to 0-6 at the break. They were under pressure everywhere: unable to win the ball up front, unable to get Tony Kelly involved, unable to stop giving away frees to TJ Reid.

As Ring once said of himself, Reid is now pushing up close to the shilling gate, but he showed the timelessness of talent in Croke Park in every move. His free-taking was nerveless and his ability to win primary possession remains keen; the distribution was at the standard he’s set for a decade or more.

The second half began with Kelly hitting the post from a Clare free, and TJ Reid lifting a free over their from his own half. Eight minutes later, after Cian Kenny’s goal, the scoreline was 2-19 to 0-10. You get the idea.

Long before the final whistle Kilkenny had booked their place in the All-Ireland final - for a second there I almost wrote ‘their place in the September showdown’ - and Clare were reduced to giving players some experience of a big game in Croke Park.

As an example of a team dictating the terms of engagement the game could hardly be bettered. Kilkenny’s accuracy from play, for instance, was a good barometer of their approach. Taking the right option when bearing down on goal time and again, their execution was far better than Clare’s. Even allowing for the fact that the Munster side spent most of the evening chasing the game, their shooting was well below the standard.

No such issues in the black and amber corner on Saturday, though.

“This performance - we were coming up to play Clare, an outstanding team who showed in the last two games, in different ways, the quality they have and the spirit they have, the real fight in their team and the skill level.

“To be in the position we were in at half-time took a huge effort - honesty, skill, application, and everything else.

“In the second half the performance dipped a bit, understandably, because when you’re that far ahead you’re watching for the final whistle, but we tacked on some great scores.

“I have absolute admiration for the way the players performed.” 

We should have known, of course. Three years ago Kilkenny gave another master class in semi-final ambushes, when they gave Limerick their last truly unpleasant day in the championship.

Two weeks to another master class?