Kilkenny 1-26 Wexford 1-15:JUST FOR the tiniest, briefest moment on Saturday evening, the possibility of Wexford making a game of this sprouted and burst and tried its best to flower.
When full-forward Garrett Sinnott swung a fourth point of the evening over his shoulder six minutes into the second half, it reduced what had at one stage been an eight-point gap down to a far more manageable four, with Kilkenny ahead by 1-16 to 1-12.
More to the point, it was the second time in as many minutes that Wexford had responded to a Kilkenny score with an immediate offering of their own.
The best players break these games down to their individual parts. Just at that moment, Wexford had all the ephemeral, intangible things going for them. They had momentum, they had purpose, they had the backing of in increasingly vocal 16,000-strong crowd that was still on a high after Jim Berry’s goaled free with the last puck of the first half had allowed them to dream.
What they didn’t have was someone to win the next puck-out, someone to ensure the next time and umpire raised a flag, he did so for them.
As it happened, the excellent Michael Fennelly made sure Kilkenny scored the next point. Then Henry Shefflin – quiet all night from open play but steady as the rent from frees – speared a couple more from placed balls before Fennelly went on a run down the left and tossed over another.
Inside just five minutes, the four-point gap was back out to eight and all those ephemeral, intangible things that Wexford had going for them were vaporised.
The rest of the evening was challenge-match fare.
In the end then, a moderately successful outing for Kilkenny and a reacquaintance with the drawing board for the home team. Brian Cody’s side weren’t as clinical here as they will have to be – Richie Hogan in particular seemed to have his sights misaligned in the second half after a virtually flawless first period – but the league final wobble will feel steadied by the 11-point victory.
In Fennelly, Hogan, Michael Rice and Richie Power, they had the game’s dominant characters, all roaming freely around the midfield and half-forward line and scoring more or less at will.
Hardly coincidentally, Wexford’s most thumping headaches were sited in precisely that area. After first-choice centre-back Darren Stamp failed a fitness test on Saturday morning, his replacement Ciarán Kenny was off injured within 13 minutes.
Midfielder Willie Doran, having dropped back to fill in for Kenny, was so scattered by Power’s clever running laying-off that he had to be called ashore inside half an hour. Keith Rossiter came out from the corner to make do but Wexford were never able to mend.
By that stage, Kilkenny were 1-10 to 0-8 ahead, their routine early goal coming after eight minutes when Fennelly fed Hogan a tasty crossfield ball and the scurrying little corner-forward knifed one into the top-corner.
Hogan was the no-arguments star of the first half, always showing out in front, scoring 1-1, drawing frees and providing the final pass for points from Rice and Eoin Larkin. His radar was off after the break but he can be forgiven just this once.
If Kilkenny have problems, it’s at the other end of the pitch.
JJ Delaney was landed with playing full back because Noel Hickey doesn’t appear to be trusted with the role any more, yet despite the fact Sinnott was making his championship debut, he still presented the five-time All Star with as torrid an evening as Delaney has seen in a while.
Rory Jacob gave Jackie Tyrrell a similar coursing and would have had a couple of goals to add to his three points from play but for the brilliance of new Kilkenny goalkeeper David Herity and a desperate lunge from Delaney in the first half that just deflected his shot out for a 65.
With their full-back line looking this rocky, Kilkenny have no choice but to dominate out around the middle. Had Wexford been able to fire more ball into Sinnott, Jacob and the highly-accurate Berry, you can be sure more than just Tyrrell would have finished on Cody’s bench. But since the virtuoso displays of Fennelly, Rice and Power combined to pinch the hose and stop the flow, they didn’t have to worry so much on the day.
Doesn’t mean they won’t between now and the Leinster final though. A better, stronger Dublin or Galway will surely pop their rivets. Whether they’ll be able to bend without breaking will make for a fascinating watch.
KILKENNY: D Herity; N Hickey, JJ Delaney, J Tyrrell; P Murphy (0-1), B Hogan, P Hogan; M Fennelly (0-2), M Rice (0-4); TJ Reid (0-3), R Power (0-4, one free), H Shefflin (0-9, six frees, two 65s); C Fennelly (0-1), E Larkin (0-1), R Hogan (1-1) Subs: M Kavanagh for Tyrrell (59 mins), E Brennan for C Fennelly (60 mins), J Mulhall for Larkin (61 mins).
WEXFORD: N Breen; P Roche (0-2, 65s), M O’Hanlon, K Rossiter; L Prendergast, C Kenny, M Travers (0-1); W Doran, D Redmond; PJ Nolan (0-1), H Kehoe, S Banville (0-1); R Jacob (0-3), G Sinnott (0-4), J Berry (1-3, 1-2 frees) Subs: C Farrell for Kenny (13 mins), M Jacob for Doran (30 mins), E Quigley for Redmond (50 mins), B Doyle for Nolan (53 mins), T Waters for H Kehoe (66 mins).
Referee: J Ryan (Tipperary).
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