Kilkenny as good as it gets

A midsummer massacre occurred on the Croke Park pitch yesterday, and the most surprised people of all were those who perpetrated the act.

Kilkenny, who had ventured into the fray with all the wariness of a cat twice bitten, trooped away from their Leinster semi-final encounter against Laois with a 22-points winning margin that conceivably could have been even greater.

Indeed, the final tally was the biggest ever accumulated by a Kilkenny team in a championship match with Laois - and the margin was the biggest since the 24 points that separated the sides exactly 40 years ago. Yesterday's one-sided affair was all so different from a year ago (when they contrived to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat) and Brian Cody, the Kilkenny manager, was dismissive of suggestions that they could have done with a tougher game. "I'd prefer to be on the sideline today than last year when we were sweating blood," he insisted.

This win was too easy, though. Far too easy. With the exception of Niall Rigney, who single-handedly attempted to carry his side, and perhaps defender PJ Peacock, who did his best to plug the gaping holes that appeared in their defence at almost every turn, Laois were a sorry sight and totally out-played by a Kilkenny team who started the game as if their very lives depended on the outcome.

Kilkenny's supremacy was such that the outcome was clearly evident with less than a third of the game played. Laois, in fact, couldn't have got off to a worse start than the concession of a goal - from an Andy Comerford sideline cut all of 65 yards out - after just one minute and 51 seconds of the match and, in only their second attack of the match, Ken O'Shea added a second goal for Kilkenny in the ninth minute. It was pretty surreal stuff in that first-half. Kilkenny's stickwork and touch and movement was as good as it gets. Laois's defending, admittedly, was untypically weak - and with predators like DJ Carey and Ken O'Shea ready to pounce, that was asking for trouble. The truth is that Kilkenny's starting sextet of forwards ran riot and, within 22 minutes, all six of them had scored from play as Laois's unenviable record of never winning a championship hurling match in the 1990s was written into the history books.

"We asked the lads to go out and impose themselves on the game," said Cody afterwards. And that is exactly what happened. Apart from a brief period when Rigney responded to that freakish Comerford goal (when goalkeeper Ricky Cashin was badly caught off his line and realised too late where the sliotar was destined to nestle) by scoring two points, the Kilkenny players performed with drive and purpose. The ploy of getting the ball into the forward division with speed and accuracy worked a treat, and invariably the Laois defenders were left chasing shadows.

The predatory instincts of the Kilkenny forwards was exemplified by their second goal. Henry Shefflin cutely passed the ball goalwards where it was nudged on by Brian McEvoy and, while a number of Laois defenders stood like statues, O'Shea flung himself into the square and flicked it to the back of the net. That goal - O'Shea's first of a personal total of 3-2 - started a period of dominance in which Kilkenny effectively wrapped up the game and cast Laois onto the scrap heap of beaten championship teams.

John Power's return to championship fare proved timely. "He was there purely on merit," said his manager. On the scoreboard, his contribution wasn't as great as any of his forward colleagues - but the man from the John Lockes club provided a physical presence and a cuteness that nourished his team-mates around him. "I thought John was fantastic," enthused Carey.

Power's hand was to be seen in a number of stinging attacks that Kilkenny launched on their hapless opponents, and those around flourished. None more so than Carey and O'Shea. Carey's first goal didn't arrive until the 21st minute, but it was blasted to the net with typical panache to finish a rich sequence of Kilkenny scoring. Laois's John Shortall interrupted with a point, but it was short-lived - and, almost in defiance, Kilkenny immediately went up the pitch and grabbed another goal when Power's shot rebounded off an upright and O'Shea drilled home again.

Carey's second, and Kilkenny's fifth goal, came deep into the first-half injury-time and was a replica of his first effort as he used his speed to outpace the poor creatures given the task of keeping him at bay and then shot home.

By half-time, Kilkenny's route into the provincial final was already assured. They amassed a total of 512, to a meagre response of four points, in that period; and it wasn't unexpected when they shifted down a couple of gears in the second-half. Their task was made even easier, in fact, when Laois were reduced to 14 men in the 40th minute after Cyril Cuddy was sent-off (rather harshly) for standing his ground against Michael Kavanagh.

The dismissal only confirmed the uphill nature of the game for Laois, who were forced to forget about winning and attempt instead to put a reasonable look to the scoreline. But O'Shea's third goal in the 67th minute, and a smattering of late points from Shefflin, ensured even that was beyond them as Kilkenny ran up the highest score in 111 years of championship rivalry between the two counties.