Clinical Cats win Leinster yet again
by Brian Murphy, 06 July 2008
It is said - perhaps unfairly - that Wexford have one good performance in them every year. On Sunday in Croke Park, they managed to stay with Kilkenny for just 35 minutes before Eddie Brennan single-handedly blew them away with a two-goal burst just after the interval.
Kilkenny underlined their absolute dominance in Leinster by claiming the title for the fourth year in a row and the tenth in the last 11 seasons – a damning indictment of the state of the game in the province.
Leinster Senior Hurling Final
Kilkenny 5-21 Wexford 0-17
Just under 19,000 bothered to show up at Croke Park for the latest lop-sided instalment in the once great rivalry. Croke Park officials will have no doubt watched the second half keenly aware that something needs to be urgently done to address the vast chasm that exists at either end of hurling’s hierarchy.
Wexford made Kilkenny work in the first half and were unlucky to go in just two points – 1-9 to 0-10 – down at the break but the Cats shifted through the gears after the interval and coasted to victory thanks, largely, to Brennan’s brilliant ten-minute spell.
The game was then effectively ended as a contest on 51 minutes when Richie Power flicked the ball to the back of the net for his side’s fourth goal of the game.
Henry Shefflin chipped in with 1-7 for Kilkenny, but all of his scores came from placed balls and his contribution in open play was clearly adversely affected by the six-month spell he spent recovering from a cruciate knee injury.
In truth, however, Shefflin and Kilkenny didn’t have to be at their best to be vastly superior in every facet of the game in the final 35 minutes. While the usual stickwork and economy in possession was lacking in the first half, normal service was resumed after the break.
Wexford gave the champions a bit of a fright in the opening exchanges and the game was level at 0-3 apiece after seven minutes, the ever accurate Diarmuid Lyng setting the Model men on their way with two well-taken frees.
But Kilkenny soon found their rhythm and began to bombard the Wexford defence with a series of high balls. The ploy reaped dividends when Eoin Larkin caught the sliotar on the edge of the square and was felled just as he was about to take aim.
Referee Barry Kelly pointed to the spot and Shefflin blasted beyond Damien Fitzhenry in the Wexford goal.
The signs looked ominous for the underdogs when The Cats tagged on another three points in succession, but to their credit John Meyler’s men managed to expose a chink in their opponents’ armour.
Meyler pinpointed rookie full-back JJ Delaney as a weak point in defence and they played a succession of low balls into full forward Stephen Banville, who set up two scores for Rory Jacob and another for PJ Nolan to leave a goal between the sides after 20 minutes.
Eoin Quigley and David Redmond were doing well in midfield against James ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick and Jackie Tyrrell, while Nolan was another to shine in attack, his point on 29 minutes leaving the scoreline at 1-8 to 0-8.
Power nearly snatched a goal on 33 minutes when he ghosted in from the touchline and was blocked just as he was about to find the net. The clearance went straight to Larkin who fired just wide, but the umpire raised a white flag and the Wexford fans were up in arms at the poor decision.
However, Lyng fired the perfect Wexford riposte with two further scores to reduce the deficit to just two at the interval. There was a buzz around Croke Park at the break as the expected cakewalk had not materialised.
Kilkenny boss Brian Cody opted to move Brennan and Power into the full forward line for the second half and it proved a masterstroke as the former grabbed 2-1 in a five-minute spell to kill off the Wexford challenge.
Having failed to make an impact in the first 38 minutes, the Craig Ballycallan player raised a green flag with a brilliant individual goal after his purposeful run was met with a wall of purple and yellow defenders, but, somehow, he managed to flick the ball past Fitzhenry when the opportunity seemed to have passed.
Brennan added a second five minutes later with another moment of magic. Derek Lyng passed the ball to his right after encountering traffic on the 21-yard line and Brennan floated a brilliant shot across the goal and into the top corner from a near-impossible angle. Game Over.
Power, who finished with 1-3, added a fourth Kilkenny goal on 51 minutes and Wexford found themselves 14 points in arrears with time for further bloodshed left on the clock.
But Kilkenny took the foot off the gas and the game petered out amid a rash of late substitutions, one of whom, Aidan Fogarty, snatched a fifth goal for the Cats, having robbed Malachy Travers inside the square.
SCORERS:
KILKENNY: H Shefflin 1-7, (0-7 f, 1-0 pen), E Brennan 2-2, E Larkin 0-3, D Lyng 0-1, J Fitzpatrick 0-4 (0-1f), R Power 1-3, A Fogarty 1-1.
WEXFORD: D Lyng O-7,(0-4f, 0-1sl), D Redmond 0-2, PJ Nolan 0-2, R Jacob 0-3, M Jacob 0-1, S Doyle 0-1, B Lambert 0-1.
KILKENNY: PJ Ryan; M Kavanagh, JJ Delaney, J Dalton; T Walsh, B Hogan, PJ Delaney; J Fitzpatrick, J Tyrrell; M Comerford, D Lyng, E Larkin; R Power, H Shefflin, E Brennan.
SUBS: A Fogarty for M Comerford ’55 (blood sub), M Comerford for A Fogarty ’57 (blood sub), A Fogarty for M Comerford ’63, W O’Dwyer for D Lyng ’63, M Rice for R Power ’64, R Mullally for PJ Delaney ’68.
WEXFORD: D Fitzhenry; M Travers, P Roche, J Tonks; M Jacob, D O'Connor, D Stamp; E Quigley, D Redmond; P.J. Nolan, W Doran, D Lyng; S Doyle, S Banville, R Jacob [capt].
SUBS: B Lambert for PJ Nolan ’55, C Farrell for P Roche ’57.
REFEREE: Barry Kelly [Westmeath]
ATTENDANCE: 18,825
