Delaney seeks to help from sidelines

They say one man's loss is another man's gain, but the feeling in Kilkenny at the moment is that JJ Delaney is irreplaceable. Their best defender - and arguably the best in the country - will miss the All-Ireland hurling final against Cork on Sunday week after sustaining the dreaded cruciate knee ligament tear after a simple yet costly twist at training last Friday evening.

Delaney admits it took him most of the weekend to come to terms with the injury, and that he would lose out on Kilkenny's biggest game all year. But there's no way he's about to let it drag his team down. He attended Kilkenny training as usual on Monday evening, walking in on crutches to the applause of the watching supporters. And afterwards Delaney himself made the point about no one being irreplaceable.

"I have every faith in the boys to do the job for us and bring home the All-Ireland title," he said. "Fortunately, for the last four or five years I've not missed a championship game with Kilkenny, but now I'm going to miss the most important one of the year.

"That's disappointing, because you train all year in an effort to be ready for the big games in August and September, but these things happen in sport and I suppose you have to take the highs with the lows and get on with life."

There's no man better qualified than manager Brian Cody to put Delaney's loss into context - and the gaping hole left in the full-back position. Yet Cody too was being philosophical about it, that Kilkenny just would have to get on with their quest to win back the title after a three-year absence.

"JJ's loss, his injury, is a disaster," said Cody. "He's smashing fellow, and a smashing player. And I don't mind saying at all that I've never seen a better defender than JJ Delaney. And I'm talking about never. At his best he's just an awesome player. He's got everything a player needs to be at the very top, and he would have been at the top of any generation. I mean that very, very definitely.

"So to lose a player like that, someone who is an immense and hugely popular player in the panel, and the most unassuming person you could hope to meet anywhere, is an awful thing to happen. But JJ was the first to say the game goes ahead, life goes on, and it's up to the next fellow to come in and do the job. I don't know who that will be yet, but all we can hope is that he brings some of JJ's qualities."

In describing the injury, Delaney still appeared deeply frustrated at how such a simple turn could deliver such a cruel blow.

"I would say there was only a couple of minutes left in the practice game when someone took a shot and I went to the right to knock it out or collect the ball, but my left leg just seemed to remain on the ground.

"I went over, and then I heard a click and I knew immediately there was something wrong and that I was in trouble straightaway. I had a few knee problems in the past but never did the cruciate, but this time I just knew I had done serious damage. When you hear a click and the pain comes on severely for five or six minutes immediately afterwards, you just know instantly that your season was probably over."

And that night, he added, the realisation slowly set in. "I was worrying all the time, hardly slept at all, but even before the scan the following morning I knew in the back of my mind I would not be making it to the All-Ireland final. The many good wishes and sympathy are great now, but I don't think it will really hit me until I wake up on the Sunday morning of the final, knowing I won't be going about packing my bag and making sure everything I need is in there.

"But I will still be part of the panel and I still want to be in there in the dressingroom giving the lads a boost up and drive them on as best I can. So I've decided to postpone the operation for a couple of weeks until after the final."

Even at the young age of 24, however, Delaney can't really be consoled unless Kilkenny go on to win the All-Ireland. You can have won it all to date - two senior All-Irelands, one under-21, three All Stars, Hurler of the Year - but that doesn't make losing out on the one game you've been priming for all year any easier.