Kilkenny great wary of Cork's enthusiasm

Pat Henderson has seen it all before with Kilkenny. Having played in 10 All-Ireland finals, with a 50 per cent success rate, he managed the team which won the 1982 and 1983 finals, beating Cork on both occasions.

Playing with men like Ollie Walsh, Eddie Keher, Fan Larkin and Jim Treacy and many others familiar to hurling folk, his days at the top spanned 14 years until his retirement at the age of 35.

Henderson will step out at Croke Park again on Sunday with many of the players with whom he shared those great moments, as the winning teams of 1974 and 1975 are honoured. Sadly Ollie Walsh and Ted Carroll will be missing from the occasion, both having passed away.

Henderson admits to being slightly anxious about the Cork challenge. "Well you always have to be worried about Cork," he says. "They have a fresh young side with a core of experienced players. It is an intriguing clash really and should be very close.

"Both sides have strong points with a good Kilkenny attack up against a strong Cork defence. Cork are a keen young side and will be very difficult to beat but, after losing last year, Kilkenny will be very keen indeed to take the title this time around."

Players, he says, are always under severe pressure coming into a final. "The amount of training done nowadays is away ahead of the amount that we did in our time. This applies to all sports. I was doing four nights a week in the build-up to this match.

"That involves, not only training itself but travelling, time spent away from family as well as holding down a full-time job. The nature of the game is evolving all the time and the demands on players and managers are enormous.

"I believe that the days of players giving 14 years to the game at inter-county level are coming to an end. Willie O'Connor and John Power have given great service to Kilkenny, but they can't go on for ever."

Asked if he favoured some drift towards the professional game, he said he did not believe that the GAA could afford a professional game. "There's a limit to what can be done. Any money coming into the game is being ploughed back and that is the right way to go about things."

Henderson welcomes the developments at Croke Park and believes that it is a tremendous project. He, however, regrets the loss of terrace space at the Canal End and, later, at Hill 16.

"I feel that young people are being forgotten about. I believe that the terracing at both ends should have been retained with extra safety measures. Young people can't afford the prices being charged and the number of tickets seems to have dropped dramatically." Insofar as the match on Sunday is concerned, he believes it will be close. "There may be a couple of goals at either end and a big number of points. Both sides will be anxious not to concede frees as both teams have excellent freetakers in D J Carey and Joe Deane and they will punish anything within range.

"Whichever set of forwards gets the upper hand early on will have the advantage and can build on it. I am expecting a fine open match. I don't believe there will be much in it but, naturally, I am hoping for a Kilkenny win," he says.