During the League and especially after the League final nobody really knew what to make of Kilkenny. They had a lot of injuries to key players but even making allowances for that they looked like a tired team on the way down. Now? I think they could make a big statement today.
Winning Leinster finals hasn’t meant a whole pile to Kilkenny players or their supporters over the last decade or more. It was the shortest route to the All-Ireland semi-final or a guaranteed good draw in the quarter-final, depending on the system in operation, but they expected to win the Leinster title every year and they’ve only been disappointed once since 1997.
Today, though, is different. This is the perfect opportunity for them to pick up momentum and head into the second half of the summer as Tipperary’s only realistic challengers.
Even though Wexford were well below Leinster final standard in the semi-final, I was still impressed with Kilkenny. The movement in the forwards was brilliant, their support play was excellent, they had a few sloppy wides in the second half but overall they looked really sharp.
Richie Power was in great form after his injury layoff, Michael Rice was a real success at wing-forward and Richie Hogan looked more like the player we all thought he was going to be when he nearly beat Tipperary on his own in a League final a couple of years ago. He only scored 1-1 against Wexford but he was unlucky not to have 2-5 or 2-6.
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I wasn’t nearly as impressed with the Dublin forwards against Galway. The big difference for me was that the Kilkenny forwards were prepared to take on their men and accept a belt. Against Galway, the Dublin forwards were shooting too often from outside their men and because they weren’t running at defenders they created very few goal chances. They didn’t need a goal to beat Kilkenny in the League final and they didn’t need a goal to win against Galway but I can’t see them winning today without goals.
The performance of the Kilkenny full back line against Wexford, though, will be a source of encouragement. Jackie Tyrell has been a great player for Kilkenny over the last five or six years but he looked dead on his feet in Wexford Park and he reminded me of Liam Simpson when he was near the end of his career. Pat Fox ran around him one day as if Simpson was standing and Fox wasn’t the quickest forward in our attack; Rory Jacob did that to Tyrell.
To my eyes the Dublin backs were standing a yard or two off their men and against Kilkenny that will be fatal. The experiment with Eoin Larkin at full forward didn’t work and they should put Henry Shefflin there today.
Peter Kelly did very well when he was switched to full back against Galway but it’s not his natural position and Shefflin could exploit that.
The other issue with Dublin is the frees they’ve been conceding. It nearly cost them dearly against Offaly, when Shane Dooley missed nothing. They were lucky that Joe Canning had such an off-day in Tullamore but Shefflin doesn’t have days like that. He’ll punish Dublin’s indiscipline from up to 80 yards out and that’s puts a lot of pressure on the Dublin backs. They will want to play with aggression and play on the edge as they’ve done all year but when you play like that there’s a fine balance to be struck. If any of the Dublin backs get over-anxious to impose themselves Kilkenny will make them pay.
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Tomas Brady will be a big loss to Dublin and so will Ryan O’Dwyer at centre forward. He was brilliant in the League final against Kilkenny and his attitude would have been perfect for a game like this. His sending off against Galway was silly.
I doubt if the Galway player even felt Ryan’s hurley on his helmet but it looked terrible and the referee had no choice but to send him off.
They’ll miss him today and I’d be worried that this game could get away from Dublin early on. Kilkenny could win this game by a nice amount.