Give Joey chance to rebuild reputation — Delaney
KILKENNY legend JJ Delaney has backed Joey Holden to recover from last year’s All-Ireland final nightmare if he is given the opportunity and believes that the Ballyhale man can still be a significant part of Brian Cody’s plans this summer. Delaney’s glittering career, which saw him win nine Celtic Crosses, was defined by consistent defensive excellence but he also experienced days like Holden had on Seamus Callanan last September. In his first AllIreland semi-final in 2001, Joe Rabbitte and Eugene Cloonan taught him a lesson. ‘Joey was an All-Star the year before last,’ Delaney points out. ‘But your last game is the one people remember, especially when it’s a final. He is not getting credit for the year he had in 2015 when he was very good. His confidence could be affected by what happened last year. But if they throw him into it, it might build character. ‘My first time out in Croke Park was 2001 and I was marking Joe Rabbitte and Eugene Cloonan got a goal off me. I decided I needed to get stronger and bigger. I learnt from the mistakes but was lucky I got the opportunity to rectify it. ‘I have no doubt about Joey’s hurling. He is a brilliant hurler, has won All-Irelands with Ballyhale, and was man of the match in a club final. He just needs an opportunity to get back out there and when he does, if he shows form, he can kick on from there. I wouldn’t rule him out yet, even for one of the corner-back places. He is quick enough and he attacks the ball, good head on him. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him start against Wexford.’ Looking ahead to Saturday’s Leinster semifinal in Wexford Park, Delaney reckons that Cody needs to come up with a plan to curtail Lee Chin, who is responsible for the supply-lines into Conor McDonald at fullforward, and thinks Cillian Buckley would be the man to stop the Model powerhouse. ‘I would have a designated man-marker for Lee Chin because he was supplying a lot of ball into Conor McDonald at Nowlan Park, and Conor’s very strong in the air. So Kilkenny need to stop that at source and they need to stop Chin coming onto the puck-outs. ‘Someone like Cillian Buckley would be as athletic and as strong as Lee Chin and you could see those two matching up. If those two are marking each other, that could be worth the admission price alone,’ says Delaney. When Wexford and Kilkenny clashed in the League quarter-final, Delaney thinks that Davy Fitzgerald got his matchups ‘100 per cent right.’ However, as he points out, the Slaneysiders played with a higher intensity. ‘Wexford came to Nowlan Park to play a Championship game, Kilkenny came to play a League game. And when you are at Championship intensity, that is something you need to focus on for a couple of weeks before the game, you can’t just flick a switch after 10 minutes. ‘Kilkenny’s pride is dented at the moment. It will be interesting to see what the reaction is.’