Cork pay for early misses

It was certainly a deserved win for Kilkenny yesterday, but it was a strange All-Ireland final. It wasn't the greatest game but it was exciting. Kilkenny just got on top by playing simple hurling, attacking the Cork backs, and defending aggressively. In the end, they had a little too much experience, too, for Cork, writes Eamonn Cregan, Hurling Analyst.

I felt beforehand that Cork's only chance of winning was to split the Kilkenny defence, and within the first few minutes they'd done that on a few occasions. But they failed to score. So for the rest of the first half you had a Cork forward line and midfield that had lost confidence in their scoring ability.

At half-time Cork had 11 wides, and a lot of those have to go down to nerves and tension - but also a lot of strong tackling by the Kilkenny defence. And that was really where the match was lost for Cork. Still, there were only six points in it at half-time, despite that. But if you go 25 minutes with only one score from a free you will always be climbing a mountain at the end.

It was so surprising to see such big problems for Kilkenny in their full-forward line. DJ Carey wasn't doing much; Eddie Brennan certainly wasn't doing much. Tommy Walsh did have a few nice touches and Henry Shefflin was there in patches too. But the two corner forwards completely lost their way.

Brennan just didn't seem to be able to get into the game. But then his man, Wayne Sherlock, played very well. In fact, the whole Cork full-back line played well. And they just clamped down on the likes of Carey and Brennan.

Still Kilkenny were coasting for so much of the first half that they got a little bit cocky, and started putting balls wide from out the field, which isn't their game plan. Even Setanta Ó hAilpín's goal chance in the first half, which he sent wide, could be put a little bit down to nerves - and inexperience. Normally he would have buried that ball in the back of the net, and that would have made it very different for Kilkenny.

Overall, though, Kilkenny just had that extra strength and experience to hold their game together. Their backs were under pressure for long periods, but in the end they held it together. Noel Hickey particularly had a tremendous game, and really bottled up Joe Deane. Michael Kavanagh also played well on Alan Browne, bustled him out rather than going for the ball.

At half-time though it really looked bad for Cork. Suddenly they lifted the game, mostly through their half-back line, who really started to dominate and go forward. Especially Seán Ó hAilpín, who got on top of John Hoyne.

So they had a lot of Kilkenny players under pressure. Like Carey and Walsh and Brennan. That's half of their forward line. Still, it was a slow process to get scores.

But the Cork goal was very well taken. When they got the point after that I was sure they could seize the game. But again those misses in the first half proved so costly, because Kilkenny just came back at them and Cork were never far enough ahead.

Martin Comerford's goal was well taken, but it was also sloppy defending by Cork. Suddenly the game was drifting again from Cork, and their lack of experience was a problem again. One run at goal should have gone over the bar but the player went a step too far.

The substitutions that Kilkenny made also worked very well. Andy Comerford played a good part, and Shefflin started coming for ball too. Conor Phelan, at full forward, also created a bit more trouble around the square.

So Kilkenny have won an All-Ireland final without being impressive. But they did what they had to do, in a dogged and determined way. They did play some nice hurling in places, but overall the team didn't perform to the maximum capacity. It also meant they had to play for a full 70 minutes for the first time this year.

Once the four-point margin came again it was hard to see a way back for Cork. It was also a very tough game throughout, and players often had to fight their way out of situations. Kilkenny had too many of those stronger players for Cork to handle. And Cork also had a lot of younger players on the field.

In the end though, Cork can't have too many complaints. Kilkenny made fewer mistakes and took more of their chances, but if Cork had taken more of their chances it could easily have been different. So they will learn from this, and we will see more of them in the future.