Kilkenny hold off All-Ireland champions Clare in frenetic finale
UNDER CONTROL: Kilkenny defender Mikey Carey is tackled by Seán Rynne of Clare during Sunday's Allianz Hurling League Division 1A game at Cusack Park in Ennis. Pic: John Sheridan/Sportsfile
On a drab, wet, dark and miserable afternoon in Ennis, it was understandable that it took until late on in this Allianz Hl Division 1A opener for the crowd to warm up and find their voice. The game had been highly competitive once Kilkenny found a rhythm in the 20th minute before the visitors held their nerve and held off the All-Ireland champions in a frenetic and hectic closing minutes.
After forging ahead in additional time with points from Eoin Cody and Luke Hogan, Clare’s Keith Smyth had to go from goal from a free from the edge of the D with the last puck of the match. Smyth hit his shot high and with top-spin but goalkeeper Aidan Tallis kept the sliotar out and the full-time whistle blew.
It was an entertaining game in such difficult condition, with the sides level six times in the second half before Kilkenny finally edged in front and just about managed to stay there.
Kilkenny deserved to win. After a poor start when they were under huge pressure, Kilkenny steadily worked their way into the match, securing more possession and getting off nine more shots than Clare over the 70 plus minutes.
Clare will be disappointed not to have seen out the match when ahead by two points as the clock ticked towards 70 minutes but the afternoon is still contextualised by the make-up of their side; Clare only had five starters from last year’s All-Ireland final. In the end, Kilkenny’s two most experienced forwards, Eoin Cody and Mossy Keoghan steered them to victory. Keoghan landed five points from play while Cody was hugely influential in the second half, especially late on.
Clare were economical and extremely accurate throughout but they were eventually submerged beneath the tide of Kilkenny possession and scoring chances.
Clare started in a blaze with four points on the board inside four minutes, three of them from David Reidy (two frees), while they’d surged ahead by 0-9 to 0-2 by the 11th minute, having converted their first nine shots.
Clare were playing with the breeze, but they were extremely sharp in that opening quarter, whereas Kilkenny reached nowhere near those precision levels, both on the scoreboard and in open play.
As well as only nailing two of their first six shots, two of which were missed scoreable frees from Billy Drennan, Kilkenny turned over the ball ten times in the first quarter from misdirected or under-hit passes, as well as unforced errors; four of Clare’s first nine scores came from turnovers.
After scoring just twice in the first 20 minutes, Kilkenny finally got some traction, much of which was down to increased aggression and intensity, more disciplined tackling and greater accuracy levels all over the pitch. Four unanswered points in five minutes from Drennan (2), Keoghan and Mikey Carey finally got them moving and got the Kilkenny supporters stirring.
Clare had gone 11 minutes without a score before Reidy bagged another pointed free and, while they didn’t miss their first attempt at the target until the 30th minute, a shot that Cathal Malone dropped short, Clare were still on the backfoot by that stage of the match.
The shot count in the second quarter was 12-5 in Kilkenny’s favour, with the visitors converting eight of those chances. The fact that seven of those scores were sourced from turnovers underlined how much Clare had dropped off and Kilkenny had increased the pace of their play and intensity and volume of their tackling.
Kilkenny suddenly had such a foothold in the match that they had a chance to go ahead just before the break when Cody meandered his way in along the endline and past a raft of defenders but Clare still had enough bodies back to scramble the ball away.
Aron Shanagher and Drennan exchanged points to leave Clare ahead at the break by 0-12 to 0-10, but the concern of Clare’s drop off was compounded by the loss of David McInerney to a hamstring injury seconds before the half-time whistle.
Kilkenny had levelled up the match three minutes into the half from Peter McDonald and Keoghan and the sides continued to trade scores throughout the third quarter, with Gearóid Dunne levelling the match at the end of that quarter at 0-15 each.
Dunne almost set up a goal for Hogan shortly afterwards but his pass was overcooked. Still, Kilkenny mined a score from the subsequent play while Cody’s increasing influence was evident from an excellent point and an assist for Luke Connellan to put Kilkenny two ahead.
Clare responded with four points in less than two minutes from Smyth (2), Cian Galvin and Seán Rynne before Keoghan levelled up the match again with two quick-fire points and another Drennan free put Kilkenny ahead in the 70th minute.
Additional time was a mad scramble for Kilkenny to stay ahead, and for Clare to reel them in, but Kilkenny just managed to breast the line first.
y: B Drennan (0-7, 6fs, ’65), M Keoghan (0-5), M Carey (0-3), E Cody and P McDonald (0-2) each), L Connellan, L Hogan, C Kenny, G Dunne (0-1 each).
: D Reidy (0-8, 7fs), D Conroy (0-3), S Rynne, P Donnellan, S Meehan, K Smyth (0-2 each), A Shanagher and Cian Galvin (0-1 each).
: A Tallis; M Butler, H Lawlor, S Murphy; M Carey, D Blanchfield, F Mackessy; P McDonald, J Molloy; M Keoghan, A Mullen, P Deegan; B Drennan, E Cody, B Ryan.
: G Dunne for Molloy (43), L Hogan for Kenny (51min), L Connellan for Ryan (59), Z B Hammond for Mackessy (65).
: E Quilligan; I McNamara, C Leen, D Lohan; J O’Neill, D McInerney, C Galvin; R Taylor, C Malone; P Crotty, D Conroy, S Rynne; S Meehan, A Shanagher, D Reidy.
: R Hayes for McInerney (37min), P Donnellan for Taylor (43), K Smyth for Shanagher (51), Rory Hayes for Crotty (55), J Conneally for Leen (61).
: S Hynes (Galway)
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