Cats surge to see off the Rebels

“Although we weren’t leading at half-time, we weren’t concerned about that,” suggested manager, Kingston, when referring to the interval score of 0-11 (K) to 0-10 after the Leesiders shot six wides. “We wanted to get back into the dressing room in a good position, and we did that.

“What’s been synonymous with this Kilkenny team is they come at you hard in the second half. We spoke about that, and we weren’t able to match it. The game petered away from us after 15 or 20 minutes of the second half. They dominated that period. We struggled to come to terms with their work rate and intensity. We struggled after that.

“Any time you lose a game is a worry. Any time you feel you’re out-muscled in a worry as well. The second half showing was concerning.

“This is a huge learning curve for them. Playing Kilkenny in Nowlan Park, when the team need points was always going to be a tough ask. We are trying to get a balance between youth and experience in our squad. That’s going to take a while. It’s not an excuse. It’s a fact.”

Kilkenny manager, Brian Cody, talked a different tale in relation to his charges.

“That was a good step up on our last showing,” admitted Kilkenny manager, Brian Cody, referring to a collapse against Clare. “We worked hard and our game was in a better place. Our intention is to make the quarter-finals if we can, and we are still on track to do that.”

That heavy blast of six points really hurt Cork. They arrested the slide with a 50th minute point from Dean Brosnan, but before they could add to the gains one of Kilkenny’s more promising newcomers, Richie Leahy hit them for a pair of points from play to knock them right back again.

There was an exchange of scores after that before the losers had a man dismissed following a melee on midfield. Kilkenny’s Walter Walsh was yellow carded after the same incident, but when a man down and 0-21 to 0-14 behind at the time it was more or less all over for Cork after that.

Cork selector, Pat Hartnett felt they were in a great position at halftime, and the second half showing was hugely disappointing, even mystifying.

“We didn’t score enough in the second half, and we didn’t get ourselves into a position to score enough,” he added. “That was disappointing after playing so well in the first half.

“We worked really hard in that first half and got some good scores. We didn’t do the same in the second half for some reason. We’ll have to look at that because we were in a good position and then the game went away from us. We possibly lost our shape a bit in the forward line. That wasn’t through lack of effort. It just happened. We’ll look at it and see.”

He felt some of the younger players have played a lot of games lately. He refereed to Luke Meade, who he felt was outstanding, but he has played something like six game in the last 19 days. “That’s a lot,” Hartnett felt. “It’s not an excuse. It’s a fact. A lot of the young lads have a lot of miles in their legs and that can make life difficult for them in the league.”

Kilkenny were full of running from the off. They opened with early points from T.J. Reid and goalie Eoin Murphy from a long range free on midfield.

Cork, who played the short ball game and work possession well from back to front, caught up at 0-4 each in the 10th minute thanks to scores from free taker Conor Lehane (2), Alan Cadogan and Seamus Harnedy, with a lovely assist from Cadogan.

While the Leesiders shared parity on two occasions subsequently, at 0-5 and 0-6 each, they never managed to edge in front even if the swirling wind was with them from time to time. Yes, the advantage appeared to change from side to side from time to time.

After Lehane posted Cork’s sixth point, the hard going and very involved Richie Hogan placed T.J. Reid for a huge lead point from 80 metres to get Kilkenny going again. Reid double the advantage in the 23rd minute, and he had five scores chalked up when the Cats retired at the break leading by 0-11 to 0-10.

The Cats goalie, Eoin Murphy, also registered two points from frees during that half.

Cork opened the second period with a point from Lehane, but that drew a quick reply from Cillian Buckley. Lehane landed a 65 after that after first forcing the home goalie into making a smashing save with a blast from 14 metres.

Kilkenny hit back at the other end through Walter Walsh, who shot a lovely point after running on to a low delivery from Colin Fennelly. Suddenly the home side found a new gear and they motored on. The scores flowed from T.J. Reid (free), Walsh, Richie Hogan, Conor Martin and Hogan again to take them 0-18 to 0-12 ahead passing the 46 minute mark.

Dean Brosnan pointed for Cork to stop the advance before one of Kilkenny’s bright new performers, Richie Leahy replied at the double as the Cats threatened again. Goalie Anthony Nash kept Cork in it as he saved brilliantly from a close range Colin Fennelly effort, but when Murphy was red carded later when a row broke out around midfield it was all over for the visitors.

Nash brought off a second blinding save later from the same Fennelly. If Cork have questions to ask about their second half showing, Nash won’t be in the firing line. He was brilliant!