Media analysis of the All-Ireland hurling final between Kilkenny and Offaly was, in An Moltóir's view, severely lacking in balance and insight. On the one hand, the hyperbolic coverage of Kilkenny's performance was way over the top, while the universal hostility to which the Faithful County was treated was quite extraordinary. The latter appears to be due to the view that Offaly 'didn't deserve to be in the final', on the grounds that they didn't really try in the Leinster championship, and once again rode their luck in drawing the Ulster champions in the quarterfinal. One suspects that the media also had it in for Offaly for denying them the hype that would have attended a Cork/Kilkenny final.

The fact is that Offaly played very well against Wexford in the Leinster semi-final. That they didn't play well against Derry was no big deal: nobody plays well against the Ulster champions because they don't have to in order to win. And who can say that Offaly wouldn't have beaten Galway if they had drawn them in the quarterfinal? They certainly played some superb hurling when eliminating Cork at the semi-final stage.

As for the final itself, there is no doubt that Kilkenny showed wonderful commitment throughout the field and produced some excellent individual performances. There is also no doubt that they deserved to win the game. However, as anyone who knows the game will tell you, the whole trend of a match can be determined by a couple of particular incidents which, if they had gone the other way, could have produced an entirely different scenario.

First of all, for all their superiority in the halfback line and midfield, Kilkenny's key scores did not come from well-worked plays, but from defensive errors, excellent opportunism in the full-forward line, and a share of good fortune. Thus, the first goal came from Niall Claffey's failure to hold a straightforward high ball, with no Kilkenny player challenging him for possession. The second goal came from Simon Whelahan's error in allowing Henry Shefflin acres of space. Even then, Stephen Byrne and Niall Claffey were unlucky in that their joint efforts failed to prevent the eventual goal. The third goal was another piece of devastating opportunism on the part of DJ Carey, picking the ball out of a cluster of players from a harmless-looking throw-in and leaving the defence for dead with his devastating pace. Again, Stephen Byrne was unlucky in that his excellent save from Carey's shot fell so handily for Charlie Carter. Poor defending also facilitated Kilkenny's fourth goal, in that Canice Brennan's long ball in was allowed to hit the ground before bouncing kindly into Henry Shefflin's grasp.

After Kilkenny's initial scoring burst, Offaly held the upper hand territorially for long periods, and ended the half with more scoring attempts than Kilkenny (16 to 14). However, their chance of getting back into the game was undermined by poor finishing (ironic in the light of their scoring economy against Cork). If Michael Duignan had converted his goal chance and two or three more points had been landed in this period, we could have had a very different game in the second half. It is worth noting that three of Offaly's four All-Ireland wins (against Galway in 1981 and 1985, and against Limerick in 1994) came from late scoring bursts after the team had played second fiddle to the opposition for most of the game. If they had been closer to Kilkenny mid-way through the second half (which they should have been on the balance of scoring chances), who is to know that they would not again have produced a late winning surge?

As it was, the territorial exchanges were generally even for most of the second half with scoring opportunities being evenly shared (despite the appearance of Kilkenny superiority). It was only when Offaly had given up the ghost in the last five minutes that the Cats pushed their tally of chances ahead of Offaly's. The final tally of scoring efforts came to 32 for Kilkenny and 30 for Offaly - hardly an indication of the kind of rout or total Kilkenny domination which the media depicted in the game's aftermath.

The media hyperbole was brought to an even higher plane by ridiculous talk about Kilkenny dominating the hurling scene for the next few years. They were saying the same thing about Cork's young team last year. This ignored the fact that, apart from a superb defence, that Cork team had no midfield worth talking about and only a couple of decent forwards. Cork got all the breaks last year, including some very dodgy refereeing decisions against Waterford and Offaly, a goal against Clare that should have been disallowed, and pouring rain in the final which made it easy to defend against Kilkenny's forwards. Offaly demonstrated how dependent the Leesiders are on Brian Corcoran dominating the halfback exchanges, while the Cork forwards were clueless when that game began to go against them in the second half.

So Cork joined the Tipperary team of 1989 as one of the great "one-in-a-row" teams of hurling legend, and what is the betting that Kilkenny will not join them in 2001? The fact is that many of the Kilkenny team played well above their normal levels in this year's final. I include Philly Larkin and Eamon Kennedy in this category, while Charlie Carter is also notorious for blowing hot and cold. Their fullback has yet to be given a serious championship test, while Willie O'Connor will hardly go on much longer. They certainly have some excellent hurlers, but the same can be said of a number of other counties. So, in An Moltóir's humble opinion, it is still all to play for in the hurling championship of 2001.