Kilkenny 2-23 Dublin 0-16
Brian Cody is rarely one to offer a thousand words of post-match assessment where a hundred will do.
His summary of Kilkenny’s best performance of the year so far lasted just over two minutes on Saturday evening, though it got to the nub of all the important points.
“A good performance, definitely, yeah,” said the 11-time All-Ireland winning manager in overview after watching his team layer an even better second half performance upon a bright opening.
There was a touch of deja vu about this one from Dublin’s perspective. Kilkenny beat Dublin in last July’s Leinster final and on the morning of that game the Dubs were shorn of four players due to Covid-19 reasons. A couple of minutes into that game, Eoghan O’Donnell also pulled up with a hamstring injury.
O’Donnell, now captain, missed Saturday’s rematch with a knock sustained against Tipperary while for the first time this year the experience of Liam Rushe and Mark Schutte - both injured and in a race against the clock to be fit for the championship - was missed too.
The pattern of the game was also familiar as Kilkenny felt out Dublin for 35 minutes or so before striking with lethal force in the second half.
A 2-3 burst of scoring that included 44th and 50th minute goals from Walter Walsh and Martin Keoghan pretty much did for Dublin.
Kilkenny’s defence was terrific, restricting Dublin to nine points from play overall, with full-back Huw Lawlor the key figure. From left half-back, David Blanchfield boomed over three long scores, the third game in a row he has scored.
Dublin were flat and uninspired and Kilkenny jumped all over any opening or mistake, like Tom Phelan intercepting a Donal Burke sideline cut and playing the ball to Walter Walsh to snipe a point.
Or two-time All-Star defender Padraig Walsh, stationed in the half-forwards, gobbling up possession when a Dublin defender failed to gather up a long ball and firing his first of four points for the day.
“Padraig plays a huge amount of hurling at centre-forward with his club,” noted Cody. “He has played just about everywhere on the pitch over his career and very, very often in the forwards. So it was just something we looked at and we tried and we are very happy with the way he’s going.”
On his team as a whole, which contained 10 different scorers, Cody was satisfied and noted that a spike in performance was necessary just six weeks out from an earlier than normal start to the championship.
“It’s huge, it’s huge,” said Cody of the significance of the April 16th start. “The timespan between now and the start of the Championship almost doesn’t exist so you have to be hitting form very quickly and keeping it going as well, because it is going to be week after week pretty much, short and snappy and very, very competitive.”
Asked for his opinion on the condensed campaign, necessitated by the new split season, Cody shrugged.
“Look, we’ll see how it goes, I don’t know,” he said. “All you can do is whatever is put in front of you and we have to take it on, that’s the way we have to look at it.”
Cody’s use of substitutes also suggested that he’s tapering down towards the championship. John Donnelly and James Maher were the only two to come on and only because of injuries to Tom Phelan and Cian Kenny. Despite that, Cody has still handed game time to 29 different players overall.
“Tom Phelan has a hamstring (injury), he’s probably the worst one, definitely a few weeks,” said Cody. “Cian got a knock to the knee, hopefully not too bad.”
All of this, of course, was put into context by the tragic passing of Ballyhale Shamrocks man Paul Shefflin on Friday.
“He was a very good hurler, obviously a terrific club player and underage with Kilkenny as well, and Fitzgibbon,” said Cody. “Look, it’s just an absolute tragedy. It’s so sad for everybody concerned.”
A week after digging so deep to beat Tipperary in terrible conditions in Thurles, Dublin were surprisingly flat in front of a big crowd and in unseasonably warm sunshine.
“By our own standards we were a bit below where we’d expect,” said Dublin manager Mattie Kenny who suggested skipper O’Donnell should be back in ‘two to three weeks’.
Kilkenny: E Murphy; M Butler, H Lawlor, T Walsh; M Carey (0-2), P Deegan, D Blanchfield (0-3); C Kenny (0-1), A Murphy (0-5, 4f); W Walsh (1-3), P Walsh (0-4), T Phelan; B Ryan (0-2), C Buckley (0-1), M Keoghan (1-1).
Subs: J Donnelly (0-1) for Phelan (35 mins), J Maher for Kenny (45 mins).
Dublin: A Nolan; A Dunphy, S Moran, C O’Callaghan; J Madden, P Smyth, J Bellew; C Burke, C Crummey; D Sutcliffe (0-3), R McBride (0-1), D Burke (0-9, 5f, 2 65); F Whitely, R Hayes (0-2), A Mellett.
Subs: E Dillon for Whitely (46 mins), J Malone for C Burke (51 mins), D Ryan for Moran (52 mins), P Crummey (0-1) for Hayes (59 mins), C Currie for Mellett (61 mins).
Referee: P O’Dwyer (Carlow).
