Kilkenny make light work of Offaly
Cruise control for Cody’s men as visitors falter
IT summed up the first hour or so of this game that the loudest cheer in Nowlan Park came from the small group of visitors from Murray State University, Kentucky.
Their little entourage was formally welcomed to the home of Kilkenny hurling at half-time and made its presence in the 6,976 crowd immediately known.
It was a rare curiosity on a flat afternoon that only really delivered some drama in the closing 15 minutes.
Brian Cody’s men led by nine points at that stage and were cruising towards back-to-back wins in the Leinster Championship until Offaly finally raised a gallop.
They reeled off 1-3 without reply and a nine-point gap was suddenly three, leaving Kilkenny with the same sinking feeling they’d experienced at Parnell Park seven days earlier.
Kilkenny fired 21 wides overall, 12 in the second-half, and ultimately required Liam Blanchfield to bail them out with an important goal, just like the one he provided against Dublin.
John Donnelly, who had a strong game in attack for Kilkenny, had just put Kilkenny four points clear when he fed Blanchfield for the decisive 64th-minute goal.
Next up for Kilkenny is a trip to Salthill on Sunday to face All-Ireland champions Galway.
‘Win that game and we’ll come home very, very happy,’ said Cody. ‘It’s a huge game. Galway will be hotly fancied but we’ll be going over to do everything in our power that will give us every possible chance.’
Cody admitted that his team, which was minus the talents of Walter Walsh due to an apparent leg injury, only played in patches against the Faithful.
‘It was a game we seemed to be reasonably in control of and then Offaly came back into it,’ said the 11-time All-Ireland-winning manager.
‘Things became nervous for a while and we pulled away a small bit in the end.
‘Every game is demanding. From last Sunday’s game against Dublin we lost three players and hopefully from today we won’t lose too many. We had a couple of injuries but that is the reality with these matches. ’
A penny for the thoughts of those Murray State students afterwards. They must have wondered if they’d misunderstood the rules given that Kilkenny fired exactly as many wides as scores, 21.
What they will take away from the encounter is a piece of artistry from Offaly forward Shane Dooley that they won’t see in any other game, wherever they travel to.
His brilliant reverse hand pass over his shoulder from out on the left wing took out a number of Kilkenny defenders and allowed Joe Bergin to steal in for Offaly’s 58th-minute goal.
It came amid a mini-blitzkrieg that left Offaly just three behind but, just like in the league quarter-finals in Tullamore, they couldn’t pull it off.
They will reflect on a missed opportunity because it’s not everyday Kilkenny fire that many wides and are without Walsh while TJ Reid was only in third gear.
Kilkenny led by 1-10 to 0-7 at halftime and had the game’s outstanding player at that stage in Luke Scanlon, who hit 0-4 from play.
Donnelly set up one of those points and then picked out Reid on the right for their 23rd-minute goal which put daylight between the teams for the first time, 1-6 to 0-5.
Scanlon was taken off in the secondhalf though Donnelly continued to deliver throughout and excited the home fans with a number of fetches and quality deliveries.
Kilkenny toyed with their opponents until the hour mark as the game lost some of its verve. There was an excellent finale though with both sides hitting unanswered bursts of 1-3; Offaly first, followed, inevitably, by Kilkenny. KILKENNY: E Murphy; J Holden, P Walsh, P Deegan; C Delaney, C Buckley, P Murphy; C Fogarty (C Fennelly 41), L Ryan (C Browne 52); M Keoghan, TJ Reid, R Leahy (C O’Shea 70); J Donnelly, L Blanchfield, L Scanlon (G Aylward 54). Scorers: TJ Reid 1-5 (0-4f), L Blanchfield 1-2, L Scanlon 0-4, C Fennelly, M Keoghan, J Donnelly 0-2, E Murphy (0-1f), R Leahy 0-1. OFFALY: E Cahill; T Spain (P Delaney h/t), D Shortt, B Conneely; D Egan (S Ryan 58), P Camon, D O’Toole Greene; D King, S Kinsella (T Geraghty 68); O Kelly, C Egan, P Murphy (C Mahon 30); D Currams (R Hughes h/t), J Bergin, S Dooley. Scorers: J Bergin 1-3, S Dooley 0-5 (0-4f), S Kinelly 0-2, P Camon, C Egan, O Kelly 0-1. Referee: J Owens (Wexford).