The championship’s only unbeaten team has also drawn with Carlow as they chase a Leinster title five-in-a-row
The curious case of Derek Lyng’s Kilkenny – genuine All-Ireland contenders who have reached the last four national finals, yet observers remain to be fully convinced.
Better than last year? Still hovering at the same ‘nearly but not quite’ plateau? Or vulnerable to a shock on any day – maybe even this evening in Croke Park?
Right now, on the cusp of a Leinster SHC five-in-a-row, we know this much: Kilkenny are the only unbeaten team in either province. But we also know this: they have been held to a draw by Carlow.
The naysayers will deliver frowning profundities that this would never have happened during the years of milk and honey under Brian Cody. But what did happen in that epic era, once, is that Kilkenny lost to Dublin in championship.
It came in a 2013 Leinster semi-final replay at Portlaoise. Anthony Daly’s battle-hardened crew had been building towards that seminal moment for years.
Three weeks ago, Micheál Donoghue’s revitalised Dubs threatened a similar outcome in Parnell Park … but then Kilkenny did what Kilkenny teams have been doing for decades, finding a way.
It means they have won their last nine Leinster encounters against the men in blue, a resounding rebuttal to 2013, but Tommy Walsh is wary of the presumption that Dublin’s best chance of scalping the Cats came and went in the Donnycarney sunshine.
The legendary wing-back remembers what people were saying after Kilkenny drew with Dublin 11 years ago. It is much the same narrative now, along the lines of: “Kilkenny will learn their lessons, Kilkenny know now what Dublin can do.” But, he warns, “we knew that in 2013 as well, after the drawn game, and they still came out and beat us. That’s why you can never take Dublin for granted.
“They’re just so fit and fast and their middle-third, their hurlers like [Chris] Crummey and Donal Burke and Danny Sutcliffe and [Brian] Hayes at midfield, Conor Burke … when they’re in that kind of form, the championship is run off so quickly, you kind of stay in that form for a few weeks. Whereas in the old day, you mightn’t be playing for four weeks, or five weeks even; then you can lose form very quickly.”
Question is, how do we measure Kilkenny’s form graph? It has been a mixture of the magnificent and the mundane. Dominant in the league semi-final against Limerick – only to be beaten by Clare in the final.
There is little point dissecting their 32-point pummelling of Antrim except to note the injury fallout. When you consider the absence of Eoin Murphy, Adrian Mullen, Eoin Cody and Mikey Carey, the draw in Galway was an encouraging indicator of panel depth.
But then came Carlow. From seven up and cruising, it all started to unravel incrementally after corner-back Killian Doyle saw red in the 21st minute – even if 14 men still led by eight points, seven minutes into the second half.
Kilkenny’s defiant response has been to edge two contests that, at different stages, they looked in danger of losing. Against Dublin they fell three down after Billy Ryan coughed up possession in the preamble to Brian Hayes’ 55th-minute goal … the response, crowned by Ryan’s assist and Cody’s batted finish for a 70th-minute goal, was typical Kilkenny.
Their initial struggles against Wexford, falling five points down, gave way to a much-improved second half. Even though Wexford fought back to within a point, it still pointed to a Kilkenny form graph moving in the right direction.
It will need to keep rising. Lyng’s latest selection is notable for the inclusion of Carey and John Donnelly, both touted as major injury doubts.
Carey’s athleticism from wing-back has been a big positive in the last two outings while the previously unheralded Donnelly has emerged this season as perhaps their most important forward, shooting 0-15 from play, including a magnificent seven against Dublin last day out.
Maybe that’s because TJ Reid, despite amassing 2-40, has been a tad fitful – missing frees against Dublin and then, when his deadball radar was gloriously restored against Wexford, shooting several un-TJ-like wides from open play.
Tommy Walsh is adamant that his former team-mate can still deliver the game-changing scores. “I’d be expecting TJ to win his own patch, score the frees. But I wouldn’t expect him to dominate a match at 36 years of age for 70 minutes.”
The other key question is how Lyng solves the half-back/midfield jigsaw. Lyng’s declared team suggests it will be Richie Reid at No 6 and skipper Paddy Deegan at No 9; as they finished against Dublin and started against Wexford.
Centre-back is arguably even more of a conundrum against Dublin, given Donal Burke’s licence to roam and accuracy from distance. But as a long-time watcher of both Reid and Deegan, he views them as “incredible centre-backs” for their clubs and it all depends on what the particular match-strategy demands.
“If Kilkenny want a sitting centre-back, Richie Reid is your man. And if they want a centre-back that is able to power forward and score, then you’re talking about Paddy Deegan.”
Here is one thing that Kilkenny won’t be talking about: Liam MacCarthy. “If you’re looking too far – like how can we beat Limerick? – you might never get the chance of playing Limerick,” Walsh cautions. “Suddenly you’re going into a back door which can prove much more difficult … they have to look at Dublin and nothing else. Because as soon as you take your eye off the ball, you’re gone.”
