For certain, the new Croke Park has never witnessed anything like it. Waterford, in a first final for 45 years, were regarded as having sufficient ammunition to cause an upset if Kilkenny happened to turn up off color. However, they were simply blown away by hurling that was so full of skill, pace and intensity, that no team could have lived with Brian Cody’s men who have now secured a third title in succession.
So, any review shouldn’t focus on a dispirited Waterford who were unable to cope with their opponents’ relentless power, it should salute one of the greatest ever teams in Irish sport. True, Waterford’s dreams are in tatters today, their reputations as big-time players open to even more scrutiny, but there should be an asterisk beside the 2008 final scoreline. And that asterisk should read: “Kilkenny — out of this world.”
Because in any high-octane contest, it’s hard for players to stay at their peak throughout, but Kilkenny kept coming, kept coming, and they kept coming again. The winners were guilty of only two wides, as they became the first county to clock up 30 points in an All Ireland decider. And every time a Waterford man had possession, he was surrounded as if he was aiming to strike the match-winning point. On the sideline, a shell-shocked Davy Fitzgerald had to wait until the 46th minute before his team hit their first point from play.
No disrespect to Waterford, but on reflection, it was less a contest and more a demonstration. “We totally ignored the scoreboard,” said winning captain James “Cha” Fitzpatrick, “we were relentless to be honest. We never let up, and that’s why the margin was so big in the end.”
Even after Eddie Brennan struck for two early goals in quick succession – the second the result of the sweetest of ground strokes — you expected Waterford to knuckle down and stage a revival, but they were swamped by the ever rising tide around them. It was 2-16 to 0-5 at the interval, and in between marvelling at Kilkenny’s ruthless genius, we wondering what on earth Davy Fitz would have to say to his charges in the changing room as he pondered a 17-point deficit.
“I wasn’t nice, but we didn’t drop our heads,” the rookie manager explained. “I believed coming up that we were good enough to win. Ask me to explain what happened? I can’t. One thing I’ll say, no matter what the story is, there are probably a few guys out there waiting to have a go at me. Maybe I’ll have to look at myself and ask myself questions. I’ll not blame the boys one bit whatsoever.”
Certainly, his former manager at Clare, Tony Considine – the two had a falling out last year with resulted in Fitzgerald leaving the panel — was critical of the way Waterford had been set up for the final, but Fitzgerald was remaining defiant.
“Preparations? I probably wouldn’t have changed anything. I’m realistic and honest, and even playing the best hurling we could play last Sunday, we wouldn’t have won the game. We were staring down the barrel of an unreal defeat. Those boys [Kilkenny] weren’t easing off.”
Although John Mullane toiled to the finish, and although Stephen Molumphy and Eoin Kelly had their moments, Waterford lost nearly every personal battle. Eoin Larkin added a third goal after the break, and with the imperious Noel Hickey and Tommy Walsh snuffing out any semblance of a Waterford comeback, the scores were racheted up by Henry Shefflin, Aidan Fogarty, Derek Lyng and Brennan. Meanwhile, TJ Reid’s brilliant four-point cameo off the bench lent more credence to the theory that the second best team in Ireland just happens to be the Kilkenny reserves.
Cody made one concession to sentiment when he introduced James McGarry, who had lost his wife before last year’s final in tragic circumstances, as a sub with 10 minutes to go. McGarry promptly gifted Waterford a goal when he failed to deal with an Eoin Kelly shot, but it was the tiniest of blots on Kilkenny’s magnificent landscape.
Now they will target Cork’s record of four titles in a row during the 1940s, and then, who would bet against them going on to become the first to win five in succession?
“All Ireland finals is the day of days for hurlers,” said the indefatigable Cody. “We don’t need any other motivation than to win the All Ireland. Great sports people go after whatever is out there, and naturally that was a further motivation for some people. Of course, deep down … but as group it wasn’t needed to be spoken about because the motivation was within. The players were terrific from start to finish, totally focused and they hurled at an outstanding level.”
There could also be more records in store for the likes of Michael Kavanagh, Shefflin, Hickey and Brennan who each now have six winner’s medals, two behind the high mark set by Christy Ring and John Doyle. Asked though whether he thought the team was a great one, Brennan in typical style wasn’t getting carried away. “I don’t buy into that, to be honest. We’re just in a fairly privileged position.”
So were the thousands and thousands of people at Croke Park, and on television sets around the world, who watched in awe last Sunday.