GAA Roundup: Kilkenny hurlers in final

By Mark Jones

Just a short few months ago, the idea of Kilkenny winning a Leinster championship not alone qualifying for the All Ireland final would have been preposterous. D.J. Carey had announced his retirement. The county was in the doldrums. And yet the impossible has come to pass.

Kilkenny might have had a bit of luck on their side in coming through last Sunday’s keenly contested semifinal at Croke Park, but manager Kevin Fennelly has certainly turned things around in a relatively short space of time.

A first final in five years given all the pre-summer trauma is some achievement. Getting the brilliant Carey back on the pitch was the most important part of a complex jigsaw and now Fennelly has brought the rest of his players to the edge of unexpected glory.

As he awaits the winners of Saturday’s replay between reigning champions Clare and Offaly, Fennelly will not be chewing down his fingernails. "I couldn’t care less who we’ll meet," he said. "The color of their jerseys won’t matter to me. We know we’ve been lucky and we know we have to improve no matter who we meet on the big day."

For Waterford, it was a bitterly disappointing end to a roller-coaster summer. They fought tigerishly in the closing minutes in an effort to claw back that agonizing 1-point deficit, but it wasn’t to be. They had gone into the game as marginal favorites and they failed to live up to that billing largely because their forwards were almost completely snuffed out by the Kilkenny defense.

In short, the Waterford attack had no answer to the combined brilliance of Willie O’Connor and Pat O’Neill who dominated to an extraordinary degree and Philip Larkin was able to keep tabs on the season’s best midfielder, Tony Browne.

Similarly, Kilkenny’s forwards struggled to free themselves from the shackles of Sean Cullinane, Brian Flannery and Tom Feeney. Neither Carey nor the below par Charlie Carter had days to remember, but if the winners can make the final with an off color attack, what will happen if their forwards catch fire?

A crowd of just more than 50,000 observed a minute’s silence before the game for the victims of the Omagh bombing. They then saw Kilkenny make the better start as they moved into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead with the breeze at their backs.

But a sequence of wides with even Carey missing the target on three occasions cost them dearly and Kilkenny were only two points clear, 0-7 to 0-5, at the changeover. Waterford, meanwhile, had their share of chances, but while Peter Queally won a lot of ball around the center of the pitch, he tended to waste the possessions.

Still, Waterford had every reason to be happy with the situation. If they produced the sort of hurling that had subdued Tipperary and then Clare for much of the drawn Munster final, they would be on their way to the Promised Land. As for the Kilkenny players, they were apparently given a halftime tongue lashing by Fennelly.

The manager’s harsh words seemed to work and Kilkenny tore into the fray during the second half. Within 5 minutes, Carey smacked a low free into the Waterford goalmouth and Niall Moloney whipped the ball into the net for the game’s first goal.

Then Carey hit the target with a free and Brian McEvoy struck a point to leave Kilkenny 7 in front. They could have put Waterford away, but Brendan Landers saved from Carter and then the same player fluffed his chance of a point.

Those misses gave Waterford renewed hope and when Paul Flynn went for a goal from a 20-meter free, his shot was blocked, but Browne was on the spot to fire the rebound into the net. The difference was three points only for Carey to quickly make it four.

However, Waterford were pressing hard and scores came in quick succession from Browne and Flynn twice. With the game on a knife edge, Stephen Frampton launched a high dropping ball towards the Kilkenny square, but the outstanding O’Neill broke up the attack and that was that.

"We didn’t deserve to win because we didn’t play as well as we should," said Waterford’s manager, Gerald McCarthy. "Maybe we deserved a draw, but we have no complaints."

Neither do Kilkenny. Ragged and out of kilter for most of the season, they are now a game away from hurling’s greatest prize.

Minors also win

Kilkenny’s minors made it a memorable double when they edged out Galway by 2-10 to 1-12 in last Sunday’s semi-final. Joey Murray played a starring role for the winners with two second-half goals.

NFL overhaul

The National Football League is to undergo another overhaul for next season. Div. 1 will involve 16 counties in two sections, while Div. 2 will consist of the remaining 17 counties also in two sections.

The proposals are part of a long term plan to create two distinct NFL titles although for the moment the League will still be contested on the basis that every county has a chance of outright victory.

Yellow cards for bookings and red cards for sendings-off will also be introduced next autumn.