Kilkenny turn up the heat to see off brave Offaly challenge

Kilkenny 0-26 Offaly 4-9: The hottest Offaly have been in front of the Kilkenny goal in 23 years. The coldest Kilkenny have been in front of theirs in 28 years. And those of us sealed up in the press box swearing out loud it must be a record temperature for O'Connor Park.

Is global warming at play here, too?

Not that the final outcome of the game was in any way inconclusive. Kilkenny may have trailed for the entire first half but quickly turned up the heat on Offaly after that, surviving without much sweat the opening defence of their All-Ireland hurling title – and with that take the first step towards winning back the Leinster title surrendered last year to Galway.

Major upset
What at least kept it pleasantly engaging was Offaly's initial onslaught and then late rally: in front of a sweltering 8,337 crowd, Offaly struck Kilkenny with two first-half goals – a deft strike by Colin Egan after just 40 seconds and a brilliant long-range effort from Joe Bergin after 13 minutes – and with that the prospect of a major upset briefly hung in the hot air.

This didn't last long into the second half, but when substitute Dan Currams hit Offaly's third goal on 62 minutes – briefly reducing the gap back to four points – and Bergin snuck in for a fourth in injury time, at least the scoreboard had a respectable look about it.

“We weren’t looking at it in unrealistic terms, because Kilkenny are just so good,” said Offaly manager Ollie Baker. “Kilkenny are a serious team, and will take unbelievable beating in the championship again this year.

“But maybe a few other teams will look at this and see some weakness in them. I mean we scored four goals. We didn’t concede any goals. If you’d offered me that at the start of the game I would have bitten you’re hand off.”

Brian Cody smiled, looking fresh and perfectly healthy after his recent lay-off for cardiac surgery. "It is very seldom you'll win the game after conceding four goals and scoring no goal yourself, but that's the way it transpired. Obviously we'd be going out wishing to concede no goal."

Behind the ultimately expected outcome fell some other records too. The game ended Henry Shefflin’s unbroken run of championship starts for Kilkenny, that extended back to 1999.

All six Kilkenny forwards ended up scoring: Eoin Larkin racked up 0-11 from placed balls, Richie Power added 0-4 in the second half, and TJ Reid was rewarded for his patient comeback from injury with a sweetly chipped point early in the second half. This came during Kilkenny five-point run without replay, which quickly eliminated the one-point deficit at half -time and restored Kilkenny's usual composure.

Later, when Tommy Walsh raised some considerable cheer with his long-range point, and Richie Hogan popped up too with greater frequency, it was Kilkenny back to their most beautiful.

However Offaly did ask some probing questions of them: with controlled aggression and just a little rage they certainly matched Kilkenny's physicality in the opening half, but conceded too many frees.

Dirty stroke
The amount of scores they got from frees was cruel," mused Baker – and 0-8 of Kilkenny's tally of 0-11 in the first half were exactly that. "We weren't getting the same amount at the other end. Ultimately I thought the referee could have allowed a more open match seeing as it was championship hurling. There wasn't a dirty stroke in the match, yet there were seven or eight fellahs yellow-carded."

That’s not entirely invalid although Offaly’s problems ran a little deeper: Sean Cleary had a difficult debut, Joe Bergin didn’t do a whole lot outside of his two goals, and Shane Dooley needed to get more involved in open play, not just hit 0-5 from placed balls. The opening positional switches worked well, and Egan was dangerous at full forward, but the tactic of trying to bypass the Kilkenny half-back line wasn’t consistently fruitful enough, not when men like Michael Rice and Lester Ryan start throwing their weight around there too.

What also showed up over time was Kilkenny's depth, Walter Walsh and Matthew Ruth adding scores from the bench, after Aidan Fogarty was called ashore early. There was some concern too for Jackie Tyrrell after he pulled up after just six minutes with a quad injury. Otherwise Kilkenny look to be simmering away very nicely for those bigger summer showdowns in wait – beginning with a Leinster semi-final against Wexford or Dublin.
"The amount of scores they got from frees was cruel," mused Baker – and 0-8 of Kilkenny's tally of 0-11 in the first half were exactly that. "We weren't getting the same amount at the other end. Ultimately I thought the referee could have allowed a more open match seeing as it was championship hurling. There wasn't a dirty stroke in the match, yet there were seven or eight fellahs yellow-carded."

That’s not entirely invalid although Offaly’s problems ran a little deeper: Sean Cleary had a difficult debut, Joe Bergin didn’t do a whole lot outside of his two goals, and Shane Dooley needed to get more involved in open play, not just hit 0-5 from placed balls. The opening positional switches worked well, and Egan was dangerous at full forward, but the tactic of trying to bypass the Kilkenny half-back line wasn’t consistently fruitful enough, not when men like Michael Rice and Lester Ryan start throwing their weight around there too.

What also showed up over time was Kilkenny’s depth, Walter Walsh and Matthew Ruth adding scores from the bench, after Aidan Fogarty was called ashore early. There was some concern too for Jackie Tyrrell after he pulled up after just six minutes with a quad injury. Otherwise Kilkenny look to be simmering away very nicely for those bigger summer showdowns in wait – beginning with a Leinster semi-final against Wexford or Dublin.

KILKENNY: E Murphy; P Murphy, JJ Delaney, J Tyrrell; T Walsh (0-1), B Hogan (0-1), K Joyce; L Ryan (0-1), M Rice; TJ Reid (0-1), R Power (0-4, one free), E L Larkin (0-11, ten frees, one 65); C Fennelly (capt, 0-1), R Hogan (0-3), A Fogarty (0-1). Subs: C Fogarty for Tyrrell (6mins, inj), W Walsh (0-1) for Fogarty (34 mins), M Ruth (0-1) for Larkin, C Buckley for Reid (both 57 mins), P Hogan for Rice (58 mins). Yellow cards: Eoin Larkin (54 mins).

OFFALY: J Dempsey; C McDonald, D Kenny (capt), D Mooney; R Hannify (0-1), G Healion, C Parlon; B Carroll (0-1), K Brady; C Slevin, C Mahon, S Cleary; S Dooley (0-5, four frees, one 65), C Egan (1-2), J Bergin (2-0). Subs: D Currams (1-0) for Cleary (half-time), D Molloy for Mahon (44 mins), S Ryan for Brady, T Carroll for Slevin (both 51 mins). Yellow cards: C Parlon (3mins), K Brady (20mins), D Mooney (25 mins), D Kenny (25 mins), C Egan (44 mins).
Referee: Alan Kelly (Galway)