Kilkenny out to avoid historic defeat

After the early stages of this year's hurling championship, the question of Kilkenny's previous two All-Ireland losses arose. D J Carey said as far as the team was concerned, those two games were history, irrelevant. Anyone who wanted to live in the past, he suggested, had no place on the panel.

But on Sunday, as well as trying to win the county's 26th All-Ireland, its first since 1993, the current crop of Kilkenny players will be attempting to stave off an ignominious first. No side has lost three All-Ireland hurling finals in the history of the championship. Counties have courted such disaster on three occasions - Cork and Galway both came through on third strikes in the 1980s and Kilkenny took the 1947 All-Ireland after losses in 1945 and 1946.

There is little doubt that Kilkenny, assured and impressive all summer, will face into Sunday's final with enthusiasm and confidence. But surely, at a subliminal level, the residue of last year's loss to Cork and the 1998 defeat against Offaly could well have an impact upon their mental state come the white heat of Sunday.

"For all the players there is a stored memory of the experiences of the last two years and if something triggers it, that could lead to problems," said Brendan Hackett, sports consultant and author of Success from Within.

"For instance, if the game is particularly tight with 10 or 15 minutes to go, the negative memories can have the effect of sabotaging the performance of players."

Whether that happens or not is dependent utterly on the character of the player and there is no rule of thumb; decades of experience or previous All-Ireland wins do not make an individual immune. Nor are raw-skinned novices more susceptible.

"You just can't hide from it," says Thomas Mulcahy, who played on the 1984 Cork team that staved off three consecutive All-Ireland losses.

"I remember that coming into that 1984 season every one was looking forward to it again, a chance to get back playing. But in getting to the final, we were of course very conscious of the previous two defeats and you deal with it, talk to other players, whatever. This year, there is a certain amount of sympathy for Kilkenny which is understandable. But the important thing for them is to focus on now. Losing the last two won't make this final any easier to win and sympathy will not be a factor. They got to just go out and play."

It is quite likely that in their discussions, the Kilkenny squad have tried to channel the collective negativity of their last two September experiences into a positive motivating force.

"They will focus on the present. Stress that your past isn't necessarily your destiny. There is a great saying: forgive and remember. The players won't forget about the last two losses, it is much too traumatic. But they can deal with them, evaluate why those losses occurred, learn from that and then move on. Forgive themselves for it. It is better that things are out in the open rather than left unspoken and festering. Back in the '70s Kevin Heffernan was a great exponent of that at a time when his team (Dublin) was taking some tough beatings. They'd meet, get it out and move on. And they became all the more resilient for that."

This current Offaly team have all but redefined the meaning of resilience. That Kilkenny meet Offaly again is unfortunate for them. This final mirrors 1998.

A mystique, possibly fabricated to some extent, has built up around Offaly. The myth goes they don't even care about Leinster, the subtext being that All-Ireland finals have become their natural habitat.

"It's ironic, it all seems to be tailor made for Offaly again this year," notes Mulcahy.

"No pressure on them, all the expectation on Kilkenny. Funny, Offaly were one of the teams that spoke out against the back-door system, they didn't want it. That it has served them well is no fault of their own. They have proven themselves a great team when it goes to the wire. Who will forget the close to the 1994 All-Ireland? So I think for Kilkenny, a bright start is vital, it could push them out of reach."

As Hackett points out, perceptions of both teams inevitably alter between the Leinster final and the All-Ireland final.

The flip side of this is that were Kilkenny not an extremely high-calibre team, they would not be in a position to challenge for another All-Ireland. As Brian Cody stressed in July, the common belief is that winning three-in-a-row is a thing of the past but this Kilkenny side have invested as much effort in reaching three consecutive finals.

That alone is an accomplishment worth saluting. Now, it's a matter of taking the final step.