Carey frees turn battle of defences on its head

A frenetic and at times enthralling Guinness Leinster hurling final twisted decisively in Kilkenny's favour after DJ Carey planted two 20-metre frees in the Offaly goal in eight minutes. Few other players could create such a clinical and devastating impact on the pattern of a game on so few chances.

Both sets of forwards found their opposing defenders in particularly mean moods. Offaly's back six smothered Kilkenny's offensive imagination in the first half, with Kilkenny's Charlie Carter being the sole exception. He was electric from play all afternoon and without him Kilkenny might have been buried by the break.

The defensive intensity led to prolonged periods when neither side could fashion a decent chance followed by bursts of frenzied score-taking.

This was a curious match, defined by ill-fitting statistics: Carter the only Kilkenny marksman on the scoresheet by the break; John Troy accounting for all but a point of Offaly's half-time total; Carey without a touch 25 minutes into the match; Offaly conspiring to fire 11 first-half wides, as opposed to Kilkenny's two; Kilkenny determined to make amends in the second half, pitching over nine wides while Offaly confined their tally to two. For much of this game, Offaly seemed to possess enough strength and guile to topple their neighbours and they could only have been stunned by their sharp, conclusive downfall.

With Offaly's Kevin Kinahan named at full-back in favour of Hubert Rigney, Kevin Fennelly decided to throw Carey in at full-forward, where he was promptly engulfed by Kinahan.

In Carey's defence, precious little quality ball came his way but, mainly, he found himself on the outskirts of the action, repeatedly beaten to the loose ball. Kinahan epitomised a collective Offaly defensive effort; too often, the Kilkenny half-forward line found themselves bunched under dropping balls which Kinahan, Martin Hanamy, Colm Cassidy and, inevitably, Brian Whelehan returned without fuss.

At the other end, however, the Offaly sharp guns were enduring a similarly frustrating afternoon.

Canice Brennan performed impressively despite conceding 1-3 to John Troy in 35 minutes. Troy was razor-sharp, converting the half-chances which fell to him and proving unerring from dead-ball situations.

But Offaly realised that their marches into the heart of Kilkenny's defence would be best re-routed; Tom Hickey, Pat O'Neill and Willie O'Connor were uncompromising for Kilkenny in the back line, with O'Connor, in particular, elevating obstinacy and spoiling to an artform.

But for the wizardry of Troy and Carter this could have been a spectacularly low-scoring first half. Carter gave Barry Whelahan a torrid time, sprinting deep to collect ball and exposing his marker in isolation, lobbing three first-half points. For his goal, he latched on to a flick from Moloney and exploded towards goal, sliding the sliotar underneath Byrne with his foot.

That sixth-minute effort mirrored one Troy had produced with equal pragmatism just seconds earlier in front of the Hill. Kevin Martin blocked a PJ Delaney shot and hammered a high ball which Troy raced on to before spiriting his shot beyond Joe Dermody.

Ferocious and often gainless tussles for possession were broken by sporadic points after that and thus the finalists retired at the break, leaving the 32,490 in attendance to decipher the disparate rhythms of a half which failed to hint at a turning point.

Matters changed little at the outset of the second half. Troy chipped a free to put a chink of light between the scores, 1-5 to 1-3. But Carter (who else?) replied, darting across the field to pluck a long ball and whip it over. Andy Comerford, introduced by Kilkenny for the ineffective Johnny Dooley, restored parity. Two minutes later, Troy lobbed a "65" for Offaly.

Three quick wides by Kilkenny and the increasingly central figure of midfielder Phil Larkin then suggested that they were slowly wresting the balance of possession from Offaly, but no one could have anticipated the manner in which they punched themselves free.

Kinahan, so admirable at the fulcrum of Offaly's defence, was whistled for carrying in front of his own goal and Carey, since moved to half-forward and desperate to force some sort of impression on events, announced his intention to strike low by taking three steps back. His shot was rasping, by-passing Byrne and four Offaly defenders on its way to the top left hand corner of the goal. A roar of disbelief rippled around a stadium which minutes before had been given to whispers that Carey might be withdrawn early.

Both sides traded scores until Carey was presented with an identical opportunity eight minutes later. He crouched over the sliotar as though about to chip a point but had the audacity to fire low and somehow the ball squeezed through the Offaly wall.

Down 3-7 to 1-7 with 58 minutes played, Offaly were winded and although they closed the gap to four, they never looked likely to defy fate as they had done against Wexford. Indeed, Kilkenny, elated by two goals from the blue, finished the more rampant, with the irrepressible Carter smashing a shot against the upright and substitute Michael Phelan angling a late score.

Kilkenny, then, progress as champions this summer and despite winning by five points retain the shroud of enigma which they have used shrewdly this year.

Offaly will seethe and come back stronger for this.