PM O'Sullivan: Cats and Clare complete trilogy with game that showed where each county stands
IN THE MIX: Clare's Ian Galvin under pressure from Kilkenny's Tommy Walsh at Croke Park. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Thomas Kinsella, not long gone and a fine poet, forever stressed the importance of triads in Old Irish literature.
An example? "The three finest sights in the world: a field of ripe wheat, a ship in full sail, and the wife of a Mac Donnell with child."
You could say Clare and Kilkenny, striving on a bright and breezy afternoon in Croke Park, became modern proof of ancient dynamics. The number three possesses a quasi occult force in Hibernian contexts. These two counties, up thrice in a row on All Ireland semi-final weekend, have found a tense intimacy.
Certain feeling beforehand? That this encounter might stab at definitive answer on where the two counties stand as regards early to mid 2020s hurling.
Why? Because a question mark hovered over the meetings in 2022 and 2023. First year, John Conlon dropped out at last moment with injury. His status as Clare's lynchpin in defence meant a significant tilt. Kilkenny, playing their best hurling since the drawn and replayed 2014 Senior Finals, duly capitalised.
Last year, Clare's management offered a curious strategem. They elected to start with seven defenders, accomodating a sweeper, and did not thrive until this gambit got junked after half-time. A certain feeling persisted that orthodox lineup, from get go, would have delivered progress. Sweeperology never makes much sense.
Which or whether, the game in 2024 never reached a terrific standard. There were too many mistakes, too many poor wides. Both teams hurled in flashes. Neither of them established a sustained gleam. Clare will enter this All-Ireland Final in curiously frictionless.fashion, largely unburdened by expectation. Sometimes small cards come up trumps.
Clare just had more, when having what you possess counted most. They shucked off indifferent first half performance and grabbed victory via a rattlingly productive final quarter. Kilkenny paid highest price for not chloroforming Banner self belief when the Leinster champions were decidely on top in that first half.
Shane O'Donnell, previously quiet, fetched Clare's first puckout of the second half, setting a pregnant tone. Maybe his surname is really MacDonnell.
Kilkenny people to whom I spoke afterwards were phlegmatic and philosophical rather than searingly disappointed. This response seemed all the more notable in light of a squandered five-point interval lead, a squandered six-point lead after Billy Ryan goaled against the run of play in the 47th minute.
But cold realities guided this post match response. Following Ryan's goal, Kilkenny added a mere four points. A converted TJ Reid free in the 58th minute proved his side's closing score. Clare outscored these opponents by 0-12 to 0-4 over nearly half an.hour as this semi-final ebbed into added time.
The winners deserved their bounty for being much smarter in the second half as regards how they transitioned into attack. Angled Banner deliveries consistently sought to advantage their forward line. They were looking for a set of incisions, not for a killer blow. Come the final whistle, 24 scores to 18 scores spoke with a silent eloquence.
Too often, Kilkenny were blunt in their approach work. Billy Ryan, rangy and pacy, enjoyed one of his best outings in a Kilkenny jersey, notching 1-2. Paddy Deegan, in the 62nd minute, lofted a needlessly high ball into where Ryan, on square's edge, was one on one with his marker. A good scoring chance, with Kilkenny still three points up, frittered.
Two minutes later, Eoin Cody sent in the exact same lofted ball, with the exact same result. Both times, a ball zipped in front of Ryan would have caused no end of bother, might well have cleaved the contest. Kilkenny's 37th Senior title, whenever it arrives, will in large part derive from the elimination of heedless back foot deliveries.
The county badly needs a renovation of core emphases. Kilkenny are currently playing far.too much unKilkenny like hurling.
Closing triad example? "Three fewnesses that are better than plenty: a fewness of fine words, a fewness of cows in grass, a fewness of friends around ale."
Kilkenny hurling, having avoided three All-Ireland Finals in a row with Limerick, now faces its own sobering version of dearth. Shortly enough, there will be no one on their Senior panel who has a Celtic Cross as a starting player. This resource, there for over the century, has all but eroded.
Today's result clicks not just as standard immediate effect. The shadows of medium term implications loom taller.
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