Croke Park talking points: Arva make history, Cill na Martra too wide too often
CROKE PARK PAIN: Cill na Martra’s Daniel O Dunnin and Antoin O Cuana dejected after the game. Pic: Ryan Byrne, Inpho
In the lead up to Sunday's All-Ireland JFC final, the one common denominator between both teams was how mean their defence had been in the provincial and All-Ireland series.
In three games, Listowel Emmets hadn’t conceded any more than four scores, with an average concession rate of just 0-5; in five matches, Arva had shipped an average of just 0-7, with the Cavan side also having restricted the opposition to four scores or less in three of those five games.
In both teams’ respective county championships though, Listowel had conceded an average of 0-13 (with the county final against Ballymacelligott having gone to extra-time) compared to Arva’s 0-7 in Cavan. Kerry is always ultra-competitive and Listowel hadn’t been able to dominate the Kerry championship like Arva had done so in Cavan; they lost to Ardfert while the Emmetts won four of their five matches by just one score.
There were only three goal chances in the match, all three of which fell to Listowel, but Arva showcased how and why they had been blowing teams away all year; they’d won their previous 12 matches by an aggregate margin of 143 points. The closest any team had got to them was Drung, who ran Arva to four points in the Cavan championship.
Arva were playing more conservatively in the first half, but the Cavan side were far more positive and attack-minded after the break. They pressed higher up the field, and savaged Listowel on their own kickout, winning ten of Listowel’s 16 restarts in that period, and mining five of their nine second-half scores from that source.
Having two inter-county players at midfield – Ciarán Brady and Tristan Noack Hoffman – was a huge asset and Brady grabbed the game by the throat, scoring 0-4 from four shots in total. Listowel did have Ger McCarthy black-carded in the 46th minute but they were still over-run in the last quarter.
And yet, if referee Anthony Nolan hadn’t whistled for a free a split second before Joe Grimes stuck the ball in the net late on, Listowel would have had a chance to win the next kickout and get another point to take the match to extra-time.
Limiting Listowel to just 0-10 underlined just how mean Arva’s defence was, but having eight more shots than a Kerry team in Croke Park showcased their firepower. And it secured a first All-Ireland championship title won by a Cavan team in Croke Park since 1952.
On a handful of counts, Sunday's Cullyhanna-Cill na Martra All-Ireland IFC final was highly unusual for a 60-minute match in Croke Park; for a start, it produced an impressive 46 shots at the target from play; and only four shots at the target from placed balls; Cill na Martra did kick a ’45 short late on to try and work a score but it's extremely rare for a team in an All-Ireland final to fail to register a score from a placed ball.
Much of that was down to the discipline of the Cullyhanna defence but Cill na Martra’s profligacy will haunt them.
They had eight more shots from play than their opponents but their conversion rate was a paltry 25%. This was Cullyhanna’s fifth successive clean sheet but they still needed James Carragher to make four fine saves.
Cullyhanna managed the game smartly and forced Cill na Martra players to take on shots under huge pressure.
Cill na Martra largely dominated territory and possession but they just couldn’t make it all count where it matters most.
Six days after the 2012 All-Ireland hurling final replay, when Walter Walsh was man-of-the-match on his first-ever appearance in the senior championship, he was persuaded onto a pick-up truck in Tullogher and paraded seven miles to Rosbercon, the length of his home parish.
The club were entitled to cover every inch of the place during their celebration. Pat Hartley had been part of the Kilkenny panel when Kilkenny lost the 2010 All-Ireland final and it had nearly been a century since somebody born in their corner of Kilkenny had won an All-Ireland senior medal - and Icy Lanigan had left by then to play his club hurling in the city.
Walsh has long been the face of Tullogher Rosbercon. Hartley had won an All-Ireland minor medal in 2003 (he also played in the 2004 final, which Kilkenny lost after a replay) before Walsh repeated that feat in 2008.
Hartley and Walsh were the only two players remaining from Tullogher Rosbercon’s last appearance on this stage in 2009, which they lost to Dripsey, but Walsh had gone to a whole new stage since.
There were times on Saturday when Walsh looked on a different level. From 18 plays, he scored 1-3 and had two assists. Walsh has been inspiring players in his club for over a decade and, while every player is nurtured differently in their own unique way, this Tullogher Rosbercon team carries some unique traits from Walsh’s style.
Walsh is one of the few big-name players who strike the ball with an unorthodox grip – with his dominant hand not on top of the hurley – similar to Gary Kirby (Limerick) and Aidan Fogarty (Kilkenny).
Kilkenny has a history of producing players with that grip – Timmy Clifford also strikes in that manner – but it’s still highly unusual to have two players on the same team with that grip.
In that context, Saturday’s match was probably the first time ever that three players from the same team used that grip in Croke Park. As well as Walsh, Colman O’Sullivan and Danny Glennon also play with that same grip.
In the 31st minute of Saturday’s All-Ireland Intermediate hurling final, Thomastown’s Robbie Donnelly unleashed a bullet of a shot from just inside the 13-metre line until Jamie O’Leary – who was standing about six yards away – stuck up his hurley and deflected the shot out for a 65.
There may have been an element of luck attached to the play but it was one of the standout themes of the match – there was five goal attempts blocked or prevented from last-ditch goal defending. In the first half, Niall O’Leary had also executed a superb block from another goal-bound attempt.
Thomastown only scored two goals but it was still enough to secure a 16-point victory. Going into the game, Thomastown had been registering colossal scores.
They did fill their boots in the All-Ireland semi-final against Donegal champions Setanta but, in their previous five games, including the county final, they had accumulated a colossal 16-117. They had won those five games by an aggregate margin of 98 points.
On Saturday, Thomastown got off 44 shots. Even when there was a 14 minute spell in the first half when Thomastown couldn’t buy a score – when nailing only one of 13 shots in that period – they kept shooting because they knew the scores would eventually come.
At the end of that period, they just flicked the switch again to land their next six shots at the end of the first half.
Despite enduring desperate heartbreak in Kilkenny in recent years, their colossal scoring potential had never been in question.
When Thomastown lost the 2022 county final to Danesfort after extra-time, they hit 4-25. When they won their first U21A county title the same season, Thomastown registered 5-18 in the final against Mooncoin.
And the scoring machine put on a show in Croke Park on Saturday.
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