CODY’S CATS TOO SAVVY FOR DUBS
THE cruelty of sport is best summed up in the quote from the movie Unforgiven when Clint Eastwood’s William Munny character ignores Little Bill Daggett’s protests that he doesn’t deserve to die, simply stating: ‘deserve has got nothing to do with it’.
Pat Gilroy’s hard-working Dublin side contributed richly to a wonderful occasion yesterday. Under a warm sun and cloudless sky, the likes of Chris Crummey and Liam Rushe did much to spark the summer into life and for a long time, it looked like we were about to witness an early Championship shock.
That they didn’t close the deal seems especially cruel. They didn’t deserve to lose and shouldn’t be going to Wexford Park next weekend, needing a result. But deserve has nothing to do with it when it comes to Championship hurling.
As one Kilkenny supporter remarked afterwards, the Cats used up one of their nine lives in escaping with a two-point win.
And there was truth in that sentiment. Kilkenny had the odd slice of fortune — referee Diarmuid Kirwan inexplicably missed an obvious foul on Cian O’Callaghan before Liam Blanchfield scored his decisive goal while the experienced Conal Keaney’s shoulder injury forced him to leave the fray for the final 10 minutes.
But they also had old dogs for the hard road. Conor Fogarty, Colin Fennelly and Paul Murphy were all sprung from the bench and all three made telling contributions. Murphy and Fogarty settled nerves among the more inexperienced Kilkenny players — seven players made their first Championship start — while Fennelly nailed three points from play as the Cats outscored Dublin 1-9 to 0-5 in the final 20 minutes,
‘When you win a game like that, you can say you’re lucky or you can say there’s tremendous spirit in the players, and credit due for their neversay-die attitude to keep the thing going,’ Brian Cody pointed out. ‘We had a lot of fellas in their first Championship match and huge credit is due to them in the way they fought to the bitter end.
‘Is it hard luck on Dublin? For sure, they put in an outstanding performance but we kept it going and the goal at the end was crucial.’
While the veterans played their part, John Donnelly, who’s work-rate was immense throughout, and James Maher were two newcomers that caught the eye and Blanchfield reminded everyone of his talent when introduced, taking his opportunity brilliantly to shatter Dublin dreams only a couple of minutes before the end.
Blanchfield’s goal was the first time that Kilkenny had been in front since the first minute when Eoin Murphy nailed the first of his four monstrous frees. But it was enough and drained the life and spirit from the industrious home side. Rushe was immense at the edge of the square, causing all manner of problems for Pádraig Walsh. He didn’t get on the scoresheet himself, but he was directly involved in 3-5, creating each of Dublin’s three goals. Rushe’s understanding with Keaney was crucial to Gilroy’s game plan. Keaney put over four excellent points from play in a performance that rolled back the years — and it was Rushe who gave the vital pass for each of those points. In defence, Crummey oozed class and calmness. The Dublin skipper was outstanding while beside him, Seán Moran ensured that TJ Reid had a quiet day from open play – the Kilkenny talisman only scored one point from play. However, as a disappointed Gilroy pointed out afterwards, there was some harsh lessons for his players to digest. They should have made more of their dominance in the first half — they shot eight wides and dropped two more efforts into Murphy’s hands. Their four-point lead at the break, 2-7 to 0-9, should have been much more.
Rushe had set the tone for the afternoon as he began to torment Pádraig Walsh as early as the third minute, creating the opening goal for Paul Ryan. By the end of the half, he once again created a goal-scoring chance for Ryan, only for his effort to be kept out by Murphy. Fergal Whitely reacted quickest to the rebound to net.
Those two goals had Dublin supporters dreaming and they went off to a rapturous reception. But there were already one or two signs that Kilkenny were working their way into the match. Reid was his usual accurate self from placed balls while they now also possess a weapon in goalkeeper Murphy firing over frees from 90 metres out — as he did four times yesterday.
But just as Kilkenny looked better after the restart, Dublin got a third goal through debutant Jake Malone, with Rushe again at the centre of it. Malone’s strike put Dublin five points ahead, 3-9 to 0-13. But Reid kept chipping away at that lead from placed balls.
While Kilkenny got 1-3 from substitutes, there was encouraging displays from the Dublin bench, too. Tom Connolly came on and scored a point as did Fintan McGibb while Paul Winters nailed three points. Given the condensed nature of the Championship, and that Gilroy will have to lift his players ahead of travelling to
Wexford Park, it is clear that there is more strength in depth in their panel now.
‘It is the same for everyone,’ Gilroy said of the schedule. ‘But the lads are delighted they have a game next week and don’t have to wait three weeks, licking their wounds and thinking about the next game. We are really looking forward to next week. You are going to need the full extent of your panel, no question, and four games in five weeks is going to test it. But we have a strong panel.’
After this encouraging display, it is clear that things are coming together for Gilroy and Dublin. They had to absorb a harsh lesson about the cruelty of Championship hurling, but his football side always came back stronger after similar lessons. Perhaps his hurlers will do the same. KILKENNY: E Murphy; J Holden, P Walsh, P Deegan; C Delaney, C Buckley, E Morrissey (P Murphy 46); R Leahy (L Blanchfield 54), J Maher; M Keoghan (C Fogarty h-t), TJ Reid, J Donnelly; B Sheehan (C Fennelly 33), W Walsh, G Aylward (L Scanlon 59) Scorers: TJ Reid 0-12 (9f, 2 65), E Murphy 0-4 (4f), L Blanchfield 1-0, W Walsh, C Fennelly 0-3, J Maher 0-2. Wides: (2) 4 Yellow cards: P Murphy (48) DUBLIN: A Nolan; P Smyth, C O’Callaghan, B O’Carroll; S Barrett, S Moran, C Crummey; R McBride (T Connolly 53), E O’Donnell; J Malone, C Keaney (R O’Dwyer 59), D Sutcliffe; F Whitely (F McGibb 46), L Rushe, P Ryan (P Winters 46) Scorers: P Ryan 1-6 (0-5f), C Keaney 0-4, F Whitely, J Malone 1-0, P Winters 0-3 (2f), C Crummey, T Connolly, F McGibb 0-1. Wides: (8) 11. Yellow cards: S Moran (64). Referee: D Kirwan (Cork).