AROUND THE ALE houses, salons and cafés of Kilkenny, the fatalism is real. There are some suggesting, with little humour attached, that their suitability to Liam MacCarthy hurling may be tested in the next few years.
It’s quite a turnaround for a side that were blackguarded with a scoreboard malfunction in the All-Ireland semi-final loss to eventual All-Ireland champions Tipperary.
Losing to Galway by 18 points in the league couldn’t be shrugged off easily.
But losing by 15 points to the same opposition last weekend – their worst defeat in Leinster for 31 years – has created a whole new conversation around Kilkenny in the post-Cody era.
When you do the rudimentary health checks, the graphs and bar charts aren’t hectic.
2008 was a year of the clean sweep. The Shefflin-Larkin-Walsh senior generation reached their apex with a 3-30 to 1-13 Liam MacCarthy final win over Waterford. The Cats also gobbled up the U21 title by beating Tipperary in the final.
They have won just one since. Clare and Tipperary have taken four each, Cork grabbed three, Limerick two while Galway and Waterford picked up one.
Kilkenny won the minor All-Ireland in 2008 as well. They followed that up in 2010 and 2014. And that’s it.
Comparison being the thief of joy, for the record in the same time period Galway have seven, Tipperary have four, Waterford have two, while Clare and Cork have one each.
It’s the driest period since 1936-1950 for Kilkenny minors.
On a local level, this whistle has been blown.
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Daithí Burke protects the Galway goal and denies Eoin Cody a goal. Leah Scholes / INPHO
Leah Scholes / INPHO / INPHO
Most notably by respected hurling writer Enda McEvoy who gravely noted in the county yearbook that made its way into many Christmas stockings.
“They remain Schrodinger’s Cats, simultaneously as far away from the MacCarthy Cup as they are near to it. Stuck in a holding pattern. Worthy and solid and stolid. Acutely lacking in the kind of stardust that turns perennial contenders into champions. And growing old together.”
We have noted this before, but they are now up to 11 years without a senior All-Ireland. The longest drought since they started winning them. 11 years becomes 20 without anyone thinking of it. Just ask Cork.
After the March league defeat to Galway, former captain Andy Comerford was as mad as hell and not taking it anymore.
Comerford is a singular figure, it must be said. Back in May 2002, he was one of the few Kilkenny players to join Cork in a ‘shirts out, socks down’ protest ahead of the league final to further the cause of the Gaelic Players Association in a standoff over expenses, allowances and general conditions.
Following the recent league loss in Salthill, Comerford spoke to Community Radio Kilkenny City and let fly. While he made some observations about the tactical approach and puckouts that were on the money, it got personal.
Mikey Carey was black carded while conceding a penalty. Leah Scholes / INPHO
Leah Scholes / INPHO / INPHO
“Lads with All-Stars, take them from out from under the pillow, stop shining them and throw them to one side. It’s All-Irelands we need. Any of those lads that have All-Stars before, they need to get rid of them, forget about them.”
A fortnight later, he made a colourful appeal of sorts to travelling players Huw Lawlor and Billy Ryan to return.
“I don’t know what the scenario is with these Australian guys. I was in Australia, you see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and you see the beach. There’s a beach in Tramore.”
There have been times when Babs Keating would turn his guns on the Tipperary hurlers. Whether to provoke or offering a candid assessment, Keating could always find a target.
You could set your clock then to the chorus of former Tipperary hurlers who would then react in print or the airwaves, urging Babs to dial down the rhetoric, reminding him that these lads still had work to go to in the morning.
But there was no big backlash to Comerford’s remarks.
Can we take from this silence, a general approval of the remarks? That the squad of former Kilkenny hurlers turned pundits once freed from the frowning control of Cody, and all former teammates of Derek Lyng, let this pass must mean one thing.
They agree with him.
On Saturday, they were hampered by the black card for Mikey Carey, and a red for John Donnelly at the start of the second half. They were also lacking in all the major facets of the game.
This whole thing has to be an unedifying closing chapter to the career of 38-year-old TJ Reid who, at the end of this game, had to immediately go into ambassadorial mode as the autograph and selfie hunters surrounded him.
This pairing met at the same stage of the Leinster round-robin last year and Galway were wretched.
In the 12 months since, a lot of restructuring has gone on.
Manager Micheál Donoghue handed championship debuts to players in pivotal positions: Cillian Trayers at full-back, Cian Daniels in midfield, Jason Rabbitte and Aaron Niland either side of Conor Whelan in the full-forward line.
That’s almost a third of their team, and when you consider that Daniels was partnered by Tiernan Killeen who is still only 23, then the Galway rebuild looks well ahead of schedule.
Afterwards, Lyng was in damage limitation mode and not in the business of hanging players out to dry.
“I have no doubt about the character in there. Obviously, we’ve lost a few players and we’ve a few lads still away with injury and we’re asking a lot of younger players as well.
“Some of them came on today, did their best and look as far as I’m concerned, this is game one, it’s over, we’ve lost it. It’s more or less knock-out for us now and we have to face up to that and we need a quick turnaround next weekend.”
What this all means for Wexford, who overcame Kildare last weekend and would only love to add their boot to the cowering body of Kilkenny hurling, remains to be seen. What kind of crowd turns up to Nowlan Park this Saturday will be interesting.
Tonight the Kilkenny U20s take on Galway in the Leinster championship in O’Moore Park, Portlaoise.
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This side, which includes Jake Mullen, younger brother of Adrian, at corner forward is managed by Henry Shefflin. They are worth keeping an eye on.
Okay, they won’t be subjected to the kind of love-bombing that bathed the Offaly generation of Screeney and Mitchell, but there’s a sneaking regard for this team, and even more for next year’s crop.
While the analogy of coming overnight, like mushrooms, belonged to Cork and their legendary trainer Jim ‘Tough’ Barry, it can happen anywhere.
More seasoned Kilkenny people will recall that while Leinster was still their playground in the ‘80s, they went from winning Liam MacCarthy in 1982 and 1983, to nothing for a decade.
That was until the minors of 1988 who won their All-Ireland and most of the group followed up with the U21 title two years later.
The arrival of two men from the Young Irelands club in Gowran – Pat O’Neill and DJ Carey – along with Adrian Ronan, provided a breath of fresh air and all three of them played in the 1992 All-Ireland win over Cork that set the tone for decades to follow.
What Kilkenny need now is for the doors and windows to be opened and let some air into the room.
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Galway hammering shows Kilkenny finding the ageing process difficult
AROUND THE ALE houses, salons and cafés of Kilkenny, the fatalism is real. There are some suggesting, with little humour attached, that their suitability to Liam MacCarthy hurling may be tested in the next few years.
It’s quite a turnaround for a side that were blackguarded with a scoreboard malfunction in the All-Ireland semi-final loss to eventual All-Ireland champions Tipperary.
Losing to Galway by 18 points in the league couldn’t be shrugged off easily.
But losing by 15 points to the same opposition last weekend – their worst defeat in Leinster for 31 years – has created a whole new conversation around Kilkenny in the post-Cody era.
When you do the rudimentary health checks, the graphs and bar charts aren’t hectic.
2008 was a year of the clean sweep. The Shefflin-Larkin-Walsh senior generation reached their apex with a 3-30 to 1-13 Liam MacCarthy final win over Waterford. The Cats also gobbled up the U21 title by beating Tipperary in the final.
They have won just one since. Clare and Tipperary have taken four each, Cork grabbed three, Limerick two while Galway and Waterford picked up one.
Kilkenny won the minor All-Ireland in 2008 as well. They followed that up in 2010 and 2014. And that’s it.
Comparison being the thief of joy, for the record in the same time period Galway have seven, Tipperary have four, Waterford have two, while Clare and Cork have one each.
It’s the driest period since 1936-1950 for Kilkenny minors.
On a local level, this whistle has been blown.
Most notably by respected hurling writer Enda McEvoy who gravely noted in the county yearbook that made its way into many Christmas stockings.
“They remain Schrodinger’s Cats, simultaneously as far away from the MacCarthy Cup as they are near to it. Stuck in a holding pattern. Worthy and solid and stolid. Acutely lacking in the kind of stardust that turns perennial contenders into champions. And growing old together.”
We have noted this before, but they are now up to 11 years without a senior All-Ireland. The longest drought since they started winning them. 11 years becomes 20 without anyone thinking of it. Just ask Cork.
After the March league defeat to Galway, former captain Andy Comerford was as mad as hell and not taking it anymore.
Comerford is a singular figure, it must be said. Back in May 2002, he was one of the few Kilkenny players to join Cork in a ‘shirts out, socks down’ protest ahead of the league final to further the cause of the Gaelic Players Association in a standoff over expenses, allowances and general conditions.
Following the recent league loss in Salthill, Comerford spoke to Community Radio Kilkenny City and let fly. While he made some observations about the tactical approach and puckouts that were on the money, it got personal.
“Lads with All-Stars, take them from out from under the pillow, stop shining them and throw them to one side. It’s All-Irelands we need. Any of those lads that have All-Stars before, they need to get rid of them, forget about them.”
A fortnight later, he made a colourful appeal of sorts to travelling players Huw Lawlor and Billy Ryan to return.
“I don’t know what the scenario is with these Australian guys. I was in Australia, you see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and you see the beach. There’s a beach in Tramore.”
There have been times when Babs Keating would turn his guns on the Tipperary hurlers. Whether to provoke or offering a candid assessment, Keating could always find a target.
You could set your clock then to the chorus of former Tipperary hurlers who would then react in print or the airwaves, urging Babs to dial down the rhetoric, reminding him that these lads still had work to go to in the morning.
But there was no big backlash to Comerford’s remarks.
Can we take from this silence, a general approval of the remarks? That the squad of former Kilkenny hurlers turned pundits once freed from the frowning control of Cody, and all former teammates of Derek Lyng, let this pass must mean one thing.
They agree with him.
On Saturday, they were hampered by the black card for Mikey Carey, and a red for John Donnelly at the start of the second half. They were also lacking in all the major facets of the game.
This whole thing has to be an unedifying closing chapter to the career of 38-year-old TJ Reid who, at the end of this game, had to immediately go into ambassadorial mode as the autograph and selfie hunters surrounded him.
This pairing met at the same stage of the Leinster round-robin last year and Galway were wretched.
In the 12 months since, a lot of restructuring has gone on.
Manager Micheál Donoghue handed championship debuts to players in pivotal positions: Cillian Trayers at full-back, Cian Daniels in midfield, Jason Rabbitte and Aaron Niland either side of Conor Whelan in the full-forward line.
That’s almost a third of their team, and when you consider that Daniels was partnered by Tiernan Killeen who is still only 23, then the Galway rebuild looks well ahead of schedule.
Afterwards, Lyng was in damage limitation mode and not in the business of hanging players out to dry.
“I have no doubt about the character in there. Obviously, we’ve lost a few players and we’ve a few lads still away with injury and we’re asking a lot of younger players as well.
“Some of them came on today, did their best and look as far as I’m concerned, this is game one, it’s over, we’ve lost it. It’s more or less knock-out for us now and we have to face up to that and we need a quick turnaround next weekend.”
What this all means for Wexford, who overcame Kildare last weekend and would only love to add their boot to the cowering body of Kilkenny hurling, remains to be seen. What kind of crowd turns up to Nowlan Park this Saturday will be interesting.
Tonight the Kilkenny U20s take on Galway in the Leinster championship in O’Moore Park, Portlaoise.
This side, which includes Jake Mullen, younger brother of Adrian, at corner forward is managed by Henry Shefflin. They are worth keeping an eye on.
Okay, they won’t be subjected to the kind of love-bombing that bathed the Offaly generation of Screeney and Mitchell, but there’s a sneaking regard for this team, and even more for next year’s crop.
While the analogy of coming overnight, like mushrooms, belonged to Cork and their legendary trainer Jim ‘Tough’ Barry, it can happen anywhere.
More seasoned Kilkenny people will recall that while Leinster was still their playground in the ‘80s, they went from winning Liam MacCarthy in 1982 and 1983, to nothing for a decade.
That was until the minors of 1988 who won their All-Ireland and most of the group followed up with the U21 title two years later.
The arrival of two men from the Young Irelands club in Gowran – Pat O’Neill and DJ Carey – along with Adrian Ronan, provided a breath of fresh air and all three of them played in the 1992 All-Ireland win over Cork that set the tone for decades to follow.
What Kilkenny need now is for the doors and windows to be opened and let some air into the room.
*****
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