A display that is ominous for competition

HURLING ANALYSIS:THE PERFORMANCE produced by Kilkenny at Croke Park yesterday was both awesome and frightening. Awesome in its execution, with not a single weakness to be found in any facet of the team; and frightening from the competition's perspective in the sense you're left wondering and fearing, "Can anybody realistically expect to beat them?"

I don’t think the seven-points margin which separated the teams at the final whistle actually did justice to the manner in which Kilkenny totally outplayed and outclassed Galway who, it must be said, put up a brave showing without really having all of the armoury necessary to beat the champions.

There were signs in the way Kilkenny beat Dublin in the Leinster semi-final that they were hurling better this year than last year, and the real proof was delivered here with the manner of this win.

Back in 2008, Kilkenny were out of sight of everyone but in 2009 perhaps the psychology of going for the four-in-a-row of All-Irelands and the pressures associated with that quest meant that Galway, Dublin, Waterford and Tipperary all got close to them.

But, on this evidence and also the game with Dublin, their psychology is more relaxed about going for the five-in-a-row because they’ve blown Dublin and Galway out of the water.

I thought Galway put in a brave performance in the first half and will have been reasonably happy going in trailing by just three points at the interval.

Shane Kavanagh, Tony Óg Regan, Ollie Canning and Donal Barry did especially well in the backs for them but ultimately Kilkenny had too much class and, even after all these years, still have that great hunger to win.

Kilkenny were actually profligate with chances in the first half. They had numerous wides but the quality of the delivery into the forwards was first class all the way through.

In the first-half, there were also a couple of great goal chances when Henry Shefflin and Eddie Brennan let the ball slip through their fingers and, on another occasion, Eoin Larkin had a great goalscoring opportunity only to flick it wide.

There was no disputing Kilkenny’s authority in the second half, however. They took a stranglehold on the game and I felt the defensive line of Tommy Walsh, John Tennyson, JJ Delaney and Michael Rice put up a blanket and was instrumental in snuffing out any threat from Galway and also in setting up a succession of Kilkenny chances.

Rice is developing into a huge player for Kilkenny and one incident in the second half epitomises what he brings to the team, where he galloped into the corner-forward position to take up a pass and then had the calmness not to shoot but to pass back to Richie Hogan. It was a move that showed his engine and determination but also his coolness when in possession.

Kilkenny’s performance was ominous for the competition. The number of real contenders was small at the start of the competition, and Cork’s win over Tipperary in Munster has brought them into the mix, but Galway were one of the teams you would have looked to as possible rivals and yet they were blown away by the sheer power and class which Kilkenny bring to the hurling pitch time and time again.

Galway’s backs did quite well but the team doesn’t have sufficient threat in attack, where too much is required of Joe Canning and Damien Hayes. Canning’s threat was snuffed out. Noel Hickey and John Tyrrell were hugely impressive in the way they mopped up everything in the full-back line. He improved when moved into the half forwards.

I could understand why Canning was left in at full forward because that is where he is at his best and where Galway need him.The problem unfortunately is they also need him in the half-forward line too.

But I think it is more a sign of the outstanding quality in the Kilkenny half-back line – amazing talent, as good as I have seen – as much as the limitations of the opposition which came through. There’s so much talent in this Kilkenny squad that a player has to be on the very top of their game just to get into the team. We saw it against Dublin the last day, and again yesterday.

Larkin, a former hurler of the year, even has improved and needs to keep improving to be sure of his place. We saw it also yesterday with Aidan Fogarty and Richie Hogan when they came on. And, after the way Tennyson played when he came on, Brian Hogan must wonder if he’ll get his place on the team back.

But that’s the sort of strength in depth which Brian Cody has and they’re constantly on the front foot as emphasised by the way Andy Smith was stopped in his tracks by John Dalton at one stage of the game.

Very few players in the game would be able to stop Smith in his tracks but that is very much symptomatic of Kilkenny.

Galway, even in defeat, can take something out of the game. They showed spirit, they showed application and they showed drive. However, they need to improve in the forwards if they are to prove any threat in the future, short term or long term, to Kilkenny’s dominance.

On Saturday I watched Tipperary’s win over Wexford but that game was light years away from the intensity which was on view in the Kilkenny-Galway match. Saturday’s game said more about Wexford’s level: they were very poor on the day, and it was very hard to judge Tipperary on this evidence. Still, there were some positives to be taken from it on the back of that defeat to Cork.

David Young did very well at wing-back and Gearóid Ryan did well in attack, while Noel McGrath and Pádraig Maher came back and did well after poor performances against Cork. But I think Tipp’s win comes with a health warning.

Antrim managed to overcome Carlow but, to be honest, the really interesting thing from the match in Casement Park was the indicator of the progress being made by Carlow who went there and ran Antrim so close. That was a most noteworthy effort.

But the real story of the weekend is just how ominous Kilkenny look.