CATS PLAY IT COOL
Kilkenny sitting pretty but the reaction of fans and rivals speaks volumes
It took no time for Croke Park to empty
RARELY has a lap of honour been so quietly observed. It was one of the more surreal elements of Kilkenny’s All-Ireland triumph.
Captain Joey Holden was chaired by his team-mates in front of Hill 16 as they paraded the Liam MacCarthy Cup around Croke Park, but, even at that stage, there was a lonely look to the small number of Kilkenny supporters who hung around long enough to hail their heroes. Most were already i n their cars and pointed f or home.
A 36th title? Just another day at the office.
The outburst of emotion by the players when the game ended was joyous and unconfined, but it resembled a starburst of fireworks — all colour and noise and then quiet. It took no time at all for a stadium packed with 82,300 people to empty.
The photograph (right) shows a gang of Kilkenny’s finest kicking back on the turf as if they were soaking up the sounds of the Electric Picnic rather than after living through the emotional and physical wringer of All-Ireland day. This is Kilkenny’s world; everybody else just lives in it.
If Brian Cody were a county, he would be fourth on the all-time winners list behind Kilkenny, Cork and Tipperary. His 11 titles in 17 years is more than Clare, Galway and Waterford have amassed together in 131 years of the GAA.
Little wonder then that in the build-up, an acerbic graphic of how the country would be cheering based on the competing counties colours went up online — with every part of Ireland shaded maroon and white bar Kilkenny.
It stuck in the craw of some Galway fans that such success has bred a level of indifference to the presentation of the MacCarthy Cup, and it clearly isn’t good for the overall health of the game — no more than in any other sport — when one team keeps winning.
Like the All Blacks, Kilkenny under Cody have become synonymous with sustained excellence. Such domination isn’t their problem — but it is one for the GAA.
It took Galway hurling three years to bounce back from their l ast f i nal defeat to the same opposition, and the worry for their supporters is that this could put the county into another tailspin.
A crash-bang-wallop slugfest of a second half epitomised a Championship summer big on hits but low on firecracker quality and excitement, particularly in the light of a tactical evolution that has seen the sweeper become a staple of play.
Still, what should not be lost is that rarely have the odds been so stacked against the defending champions.
In light of the roll call of heavyweight retirements and with injuries to so many key players, this should be hailed as the greatest of Brian Cody’s 11 titles in charge.
Not that the man himself wanted any garlands strewn at his feet when reflecting on the achievement in the Citywest Hotel.
‘I don’t look upon an individual achievement as the greatest. Kilkenny won the All-Ireland final. Everybody contributed...’
In the sublime talents of Hurler of the Year elect TJ Reid and current holder Richie Hogan, Kilkenny have just two players of many to inspire a generation of kids to take up the game.
As to the question of whether there is any hope for the chasing pack in a year when Kilkenny were supposedly in transition? Cody answered wryly: ‘Any hope? What were ye saying at half-time yesterday? It was over! The game is the game and the game will go on.’
WorryinglyW for the rest, there is an auto-pilot button when the pi pilot steps out. A Asked what Cody said at halftime,tim Eoin Larkin revealed ‘not a whole lot’. Instead, Jackie Tyrrell stepped up to give his best impression of Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday.
In winning, Cody broke the link w with Henry Shefflin, too, proving h he can win without the most gif gifted forward of his generation. O On the live RTÉ TV coverage, for former Clare captain Anthony D Daly summed it up well, laughing at his fellow analyst Shefflin for al almost apologising for another K Kilkenny victory. ‘ They have no nothing to apologise for. They are the best team by a good bit and h have been for a long, long time.’
The sight of Richie Power pucking around with his young son Rory was touching — unless you are from another elite hurling county. Already the next generation is being groomed for success. Don’t forget, there’s a Henry Shefflin junior out there already dreaming of following in his father’s celebrated footsteps. It’s like that mock-horror tagline: ‘Be afraid. Be very afraid.’