First of all, congratulations to Kilkenny on their powerful performance in Sunday’s All-Ireland hurling decider…

Yet, despite the hype oozing out of the Monday morning papers, An Moltóir still has some questions to ask. Yes, Kilkenny were good, but then they were allowed to be good. This might seem a bit obvious, but the fact is that Clare’s achievements over the last few years have largely been based on stopping teams with superior hurling skills from playing. This didn’t happen on Sunday.

In the Munster final, Waterford showed that they have all the skills and loads of scoring power, and they will destroy you if given the space and time to do so. In the All-Ireland semi-final, Clare simply squeezed them into oblivion. They did something similar to Galway. People will point to the exceptional forwards Kilkenny have in Henry Sheflin and DJ Carey. But aren’t Ken McGrath and Paul Flynn supposed to be among the top forwards in the game, and they didn’t get a smell in the semi-final. Clare closed down the supply lines, and when ball did come in, the Banner defenders were on top of their men and stopped them from getting clean possession.

On Sunday, it was Kilkenny who were doing the harassing, getting to the ball first, and closing down the supply lines. On the day, their combination of stickwork, craft, superb first touch and application was awesome. At the same time, it struck An Moltóir that Clare were mentally not right coming into this game. They needed to get stuck into the Cats from the throw-in, but failed to do so. They were second to the ball, were always under pressure when trying to gain possession, and were at the same time unable to prevent Kilkenny from making clean catches all over the field. Even when they did get to the ball, their fumble rate was enormous - the truest indicator of all of a team whose minds aren’t right on the day. They did make one big effort at the start of the second half, but even then their play was more a frenzy than the controlled power which was their hallmark in the Loughnane heyday.

Yet, at the end of the day, an analysis of the play shows that, in terms of overall possession, Clare were not that far behind Kilkenny. The big difference, of course, was that Kilkenny were making far better use of the ball. Their play was more directed and, when other options weren’t there, there was always the sheer genius of Carey and Sheflin to rely on. Clare, by contrast, didn’t have the forwards to make telling use of a limited and frequently poor supply of ball. Gilligan tried hard, but Jamesie O’Connor, apart from a late burst, was completely out of it, Carmody made no impression and Forde and Markham were not at the races. An Moltóir has never understood Clare’s patience with Markham, who fails to deliver in game after game, while Forde’s overall contribution down through the years has really been very limited. Perhaps it is time to give Andrew Quinn and Gearóid Considine, who made a bit of an impression when they came on (albeit at a time when Kilkenny were pulling up), a decent chance to show what they can do.

Overall, the Clare defence did reasonably well. As in the semi-final against Tipperary, three of the Kilkenny forwards made no impression at all. David Hoey had his best game in a Clare shirt, and Gerry Quinn did phenomenally well given the injury he sustained in the semi-final. In between, Seán McMahon, apart from his point scoring, had a really good first half but faded out of things after the interval until he too made a late burst in a brave attempt to retrieve a desperate situation. Behind him, Brian Lohan hit a lot of ball, but his clearances lacked the distance or conviction which we normally expect, and he was constantly harried by Martin Comerford. It is also noteworthy that both Kilkenny goals were scored from the edge of the square, and Lohan was nowhere in sight on both occasions. Whether this was the result of a deliberate Kilkenny ploy we will never know, but you wouldn’t put it past the Cats.

From a strategic point of view, perhaps Clare’s biggest problem lay at midfield. Reddan had to be moved when he was. In the first twenty minutes, he played the ball just once as against seven plays for his opposite number, Derek Lyng. At the same time, one wonders why he was not given a run in the forwards, perhaps in a direct swap with Tony Griffin, who made such an impression when moved to the midfield area against Waterford. Reddan’s strength and height just might have caused some problems for the Kilkenny defence. Ollie Baker did improve things a lot, but against that, Colin Lynch drifted right out of the game in the second half. It is probably a tribute to the man that his poorest performance of the year coincided with that of his team.

For Kilkenny, apart from the non-performance of Hoyne, Coogan and Brennan, it was all sweetness and light. Their defence was absolutely superb. It is hard to believe that Noel Hickey is just 21, such is the assuredness and maturity of his play. Their corner backs were sharp and tight, and their halfback line was simply immense. Mullally had a stormer, especially in the first half, while Delaney really did the business after the interval. In between, Peter Barry was again excellent, with his handpasses to colleagues steaming by a key factor in getting the space to send in good ball from midfield. Comerford and Lyng dominated midfield, playing the ball an amazing thirty-four times between them during the course of the game. Lyng’s work rate in particular is phenomenal, and he has definitely been the ‘find’ of the season as far as Kilkenny are concerned.

Not far behind is Martin Comerford, who has come on in leaps and bounds as the year progressed. He is still not a major scoring threat, but his strength, skill and work rate ensure that plenty of scoring chances are created for colleagues. And when those colleagues include DJ Carey and Henry Sheflin, then it is bad news for the opposition. An Moltóir was particularly thrilled for Carey, and it was great to see him back gracing the new, super, Croke Park stadium. One can see why Brian Cody brought him back, given the lightweight nature of most of the remaining Kilkenny forwards, but it is a tribute to the man that not only was he willing to take up the challenge, but that he was able to deliver when it mattered most.

The hyperbolic media are already talking about 100 years of Kilkenny dominance of the hurling world, or something like that. This, of course, is nonsense. They still have a lot of poor forwards, DJ won’t go on for ever, they may not be able to maintain the level of application needed to win All-Irelands these days, and there are still a lot of other good hurling teams out there. But they have made 2002 a memorable year, and have set the standard everyone else has to match.

Roll on 2003...

Related Topic:
Cats Cop Clare Cream - Chronicles of An Fear Rua