Cork's switching makes the difference

It was unfortunate that the conditions ruined this game as a spectacle. The closeness of the score certainly made it exciting but the big winner on the day was the rain because it was so difficult for both sides to play the way they wanted.

You can't really say that Cork won the tactical battle because Kilkenny certainly had their moments to win it also. The difference for Cork was that they switched all over the place and still kept their shape. They hung in under the pressure, they had a fraction more pace when they needed it, and made that one extra chance count which left them in front.

It was a peculiar game from Kilkenny's point of view. This was the first time all summer when they were 15 minutes into a game and not in front. That was definitely a setback to find themselves three points down to Cork and nothing much coming there way. They've never been held this close by the other team and when things then began to go wrong, they couldn't make the scores count.

When you look at the first half, Cork were on top for at least 15 minutes but Kilkenny were close enough to stay right with them. ???????????Og Cusack was pucking the ball out in various directions, forcing Fergal McCormack to move from side to side and trying take Pat O'Neill out. For the most part though, O'Neill staying in the middle and the Kilkenny wing backs were able to pick up the loose man.

All of a sudden they sneaked back into the game and were leading by the point, 5-4 at halftime. But due to the weather, every time a player put his hand up for the ball there was a 50-50 chance of either catching it or letting it fall. We saw it fall a number of times and a score often resulted from the breaking ball.

There were numerous occasions when both sets of forwards had opportunities but then either sliced the ball, were hooked or else just slipped. No matter what kind of boots you're wearing then there's nothing you can do because the rain just kept coming down and making it was extremely slippy.

Then Kilkenny jumped to a four point lead at the start of the second half and you had to feel then that Cork were in trouble. Yet Kilkenny couldn't put them away. They were getting the ball downfield but just not scoring and frees were being mis-hit also. Only so much of that can come down to the weather as well.

There was a lot of talk before this game about the vital duals between Brain Corcoran and John Power, Diarmuid O'Sullivan and Henry Shefflin, or Joe Deane and Canice Brennan but in most cases I believe they were very evenly matched. Only Corcoran really came out on top, and O'Sullivan then came into his own in the last 10 minutes by winning ball after ball.

A lot of people will be asking what happened to DJ Carey. For a start, Sean Og O hAilpin played a very solid game and was part of the complete block-out of DJ. I don't think he was on song anyway, and all the hype and pressure before the game can't have helped things either. So much is expected and suddenly they don't produce, but it's still hard to believe that he was held scoreless after the summer he's had.

Pat O'Neill wasn't as dominant as hoped but he was never given much space. Having said that, Kilkenny had plenty of opportunity to win the game. Andy Comerford was playing great stuff at midfield while Cork were in trouble there. Mark Landers and Mick O'Connell were not winning the ball but when Alan Brown came on he picked off a quick point and proved a great boost.

Then in the last 15 minutes Cork played tremendous stuff. At one stage it was 11 points each and Kilkenny consistently attacked only to be held tight by the Cork back-line. Kilkenny threw and passed but were always blocked and from that Cork got great confidence. Soon after Seanie McGrath got a great point from a very narrow angle in the corner and they never looked back after that.

Kilkenny brought on two substitutes as the last throw of the dice but Cork hung in there. They were the side with the most running at the end of the day. Timmy McCarthy started to run more and McGrath and Joe Deane improved all the time also.

Still, it was hard luck on Kilkenny, especially as they went in as roaring favourites. They were on the attack when the final whistle blew but there was no way at that stage that Cork were going to let them through. I believe the referee showed a lot of common sense to allow the game to flow under the conditions. We didn't see many frees but that was the right way to play it.

It was a big surprise that we saw no goals but I believe the weather won that battle. That, however, certainly won't bother Cork. One point is more than enough.

Jimmy Barry-Murphy talked about the gamble with his forwards at the start of the season, but boy has the gamble worked. They're all young and now they're only going to grow in confidence. It's something not just Munster but the whole country will have to get used to.

(In an interview with Ian O'Riordan)