February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Not that any All-Ireland decider can ever be treated as just another game, but this eagerly awaited clash has a particular resonance for Kilkenny, who are chasing a third Liam McCarthy Cup success in a row. While the experience and craft of Carey will be crucial to the holders’ confidence, Henry Shefflin could well hold the key to how the repeat of last year’s contest will pan out.
Recent history has it that if Shefflin plays well, Kilkenny play well and if the Cork defense fails to contain one of the game’s great players, then it’s hard to envision the cup heading south. Yet Shefflin, who recovered from an eye injury suffered against Clare in the quarterfinal, is aware that the team has to rid itself of the summer’s inconsistency if the three-in-a-row is to be achieved.
“All of us, including me, will have to improve our shooting,” he said. “We hit a lot of wides against in the semifinal against Waterford, but luckily we got away with it. We can’t take the same chance again, we simply have to hit the target more often against Cork.”
At one stage Kilkenny’s season looked to be coming apart at the seams when they lost to a late Wexford goal in the Leinster semifinal. However, Shefflin reckons now that the setback had a galvanizing effect on the players.
“It was the kick we needed,” he said. “We sat down a couple of days after the game and talked honestly and openly about what had gone wrong. Maybe we weren’t putting in the same effort as the previous years, but in any event, the Wexford result really shook us up.”
Kilkenny responded with wins over Galway, Clare and Waterford and the team and manager Brian Cody are now on the cusp of making their little bit of history.
“Cork have a huge incentive after what happened last year,” Shefflin said. “If they took their chances in the second half, they probably would have won, so they will be fierce determined to make amends.”
Standing in Shefflin and Kilkenny’s way will be defender Diarmuid O’Sullivan, who has his eye on a second winner’s medal.
“It’s been said often that we left last year’s final behind us, but I never looked at it that way. You have to credit Kilkenny for the way they came back at us and you know, losing that final has been the spur for us all season.”
If Cork need an inspirational performance at full-back from O’Sullivan, they will have been heartened by the news of John Gardiner’s return to fitness following an injury in a club football game. Gardiner missed the semifinal win over Wexford — “We expected a much stiffer test from them,” O’Sullivan said — and will now probably take his place in the starting line-up instead of Cian O’Connor.
With both teams have coming through the back door, the stakes to prove a point are even higher after those earlier defeats. After Cork lost the Munster final to Waterford, manager Donal O’Grady asked them if they cared enough, if they really wanted to battle on.
They’ve already shown O’Grady that the ambition to atone for last year’s disappointment continues to burn, but this time, as in 2003, Kilkenny’s desire will probably be just that bit too great.