Fighting Kilkenny

4th Aug 2010

Fighting Kilkenny

We can do it alright.

Actually, we've done it already this year. By a point and against fourteen men admittedly. And they were missing the All-Ireland club champions too. And they don't seem to give much of a toss about the league anymore.

But we did it nonetheless. Cork players walked off the same field as Kilkenny hurlers and held their heads higher.

It happened. So it can happen again.

The suggestion that Kilkenny reserves are the second best team in the land has been put to bed too. They're not. They have weaknesses. Some anyway.

Few games and tight discipline means Cody always has a full squad to choose from. Take Galvin out of the Kerry team and they get thrashed by minnows from Ulster. To be fair to the Cats they're not as lob sided as the Kingdom: Shefflin, JJ, Reid, Walsh, Brennan, Cha and Delaney. Wow.

It would take a serious bout of swine flu syringed into their lucozade tomorrow night to decimate the Kilkenny team the way Galvin's unforced scumbag-error has relieved Kerry of their title in late July.

Jerry will be back for Sunday to take on Tommy Walsh.

The mad thing about hurling is how a game can turn on a euro coin. Football usually doesn't have the same potential to 180. Unless it's Limerick and Cork in injury time of course.

Even a bunch of hurlers down by six or seven points with single figures still on the clock know they're still in it….

A slippery ball skids through a chasing pack and out the other side. An unsuspecting corner forward suddenly finds himself all alone 15 yards out with ball in hand.

Jesus! The ball!.....I'll fuck it at the goal, will I? Sure let's see what happens…

Being four points down with three minutes to go doesn't seem as bad as seven.

So can Cork do it? Of course.

The Cork back nine are as good a set as any in the country. Reamonn Ryan and Shane Murphy confirmed that as far as defenders are concerned there's no shortage of talent. Take that as a given.

It's the six agents up front that are the topic of the pre-match babble. Begin with some positives. At least there's choice and the old Niall Mac is back too. He loves mixing it with Kilkenny and he'll make the others around him more brazen. Ben's around too.

Aisake will be named and placed on the square. To do otherwise would concede something straight away. Best give him a run out and see what happens. He tortured Tipperary.

Do we have to play direct ball to him all the time?

There is a belief out there that Walsh has been aiming for this path all along: Blitz Tipp. Make it look like a once off. Lie low in Munster. Take Kilkenny in a semi.

The case is far from watertight and boy did it rain in Thurles but it's not beyond a reasonable doubt.

And doubt is what it could be all come down to. What would make Kilkenny doubt themselves?

If we see that infamous message to Setanta we'll be half way there.

Conceding goals probably. Tipp had them on the ropes last September but couldn't shake the netting. The Cats broke them with a late flurry of goals so you can see Walsh's thinking - 'Route Aisake' appears to be a reasonable option to at least have on the table.

The worry among fans is that Route Aisake has become the only option. He finds it very difficult to gather low fast ball. The Rebels seem to be obsessed with trying to score goals. Often to the detriment of the other part of the scoreboard.

We'll see.

Direct ball was among a myriad of options deployed against Tipp. When we played the other three it felt like Walsh had instructed his gunners to only shell the defences. The troops on the ground held their positions. That's what we'd like to think anyway.

Will Kilkenny set themselves up to defend a shelling only to be infiltrated on the ground? Or will the return feline fire be too much for the plucky rebels?

We know what the bookies think. Their logic is based on what they see. Kilkenny by loads.

But Kerry and Tyrone's exits last weekend show the form book doesn't always open on the right page.

As fans we've all surveyed the data since the evening of May 31st and drawn our own varied conclusions: Doubtful; Maybe; Hopeful; Positive; Surely.

But to be on the Hill on Sunday if Kilkenny's reign is ended will be a battle scene that will stay in the hearts and minds of Rebels for the rest of their lives. Think of that image of Cork fans bouncing with joy in the Hill. Rebel fists punching the air in ecstasy. The Banks and the hairs on the back of your neck in a seasamh.

It's worth the journey. It can be done.

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