February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
This Round Three qualifier win over Galway at Thurles last Sunday was evidence, if any was really needed, that the three-in-a-row is very much a live issue. Galway were pulverized by some sublime hurling from the outstanding Tommy Walsh at the back to the elegant Henry Shefflin at the front.
In fact, the only person with a Kilkenny connection who had an axe to grind following this demolition was manager Brian Cody, who had a frank exchange of views with referee Diarmuid Kirwan — an unwarranted intervention which could yet land him in trouble with the Games Administration Committee.
Although Cody wouldn’t elaborate on the content of his tirade, he explained that he did what he did in the heat of the battle.
“Look, there was too much good hurling for you guys to be looking at me and I’m excited about the qualifiers,” he said. “Two weeks between games now is ideal for any manager, and if we’re good enough we’ll keep going and it’ll be two weeks again.”
It will be hard for their next opponents in the All-Ireland quarterfinals, the winners of the Clare-Offaly game, not to have taken stock of this performance. Galway had the temerity to reduce the gap to just three points with a goal by Damien Hayes early in the second half, but instead of Hayes’s strike spawning a comeback, it only served to further energise Kilkenny.
The winners proceeded to destroy the opposition by 3-9 to 0-2 in the time remaining as Shefflin scored his second goal to add to strikes by Eddie Brennan and John Hoyne. Shefflin finished with 2-11 which included eight frees, and in the end, Galway could only admire the demonstration.
“There’ll be rumblings, but I think there has to be some kind of continuity in Galway hurling now,” losing manager Conor Hayes said. “There’s a future for this team, but they’re still learning their trade and this was a chastening lesson for us.”
If there’s a future for Galway, where does that leave Kilkenny?
CORK 2-19, TIPPERARY 1-16
A battle for survival in the hurling championship at the unlikely, and traffic-infested, venue of Killarney, and redemption for Cork after their Munster final reversal at the hands and hurls of Waterford.
The bonus for the winners was drawing Antrim, and avoiding Kilkenny, in the quarterfinals; the downside is they know they’ll to improve substantially to go the distance. This was never a Cork-Tipp classic. Instead, the 40,000 attendance was served up a contest high on tension, and surprisingly low on skill.
There was an ugly brawl just before the interval at which stage Tipp found themselves 1-8 to 0-7 in front, the goal coming from Paul Kelly, who netted after his brother Eoin’s penalty had been saved by Donal Og Cusack. The losers should have been further in front — they knew it, and Cork sensed it the disappointment with a storming response at the start of the second half.
The impressive Timmy McCarthy struck for a goal, and the equally excellent Niall McCarthy hit another as Tipp began to run out of steam. “Even in the Munster final, when we beaten by a point, the team never gave up,” explained Cork manager Donal O’Grady, “so I don’t think our heart can be questioned. We kept our composure and look, you never crib when you win.”
If Cork didn’t fully deserve their six-point margin, they had the hungrier attack with the two McCarthys, Ben O’Connor, Joe Deane and Brian Corcoran more effective than Tipp for whom only Eoin Kelly performed up to expectations.
“The biggest disappointment for us was that it was a wide open championship,” said Tipp manager Ken Hogan. “There’s just a puck of a ball between any team. We’ll still be in contention next year.”