TWO men with central roles against Kilkenny this summer also played significant parts on the last occasion that the Cats were outplayed on a hurling field.

Back in March 2005 Clare went to Nowlan Park in the National League and did the unimaginable.

The final scoreline read: Clare 2-13 Kilkenny 1-8.

Managing the Banner that day was Anthony Daly and blowing up his usual storm in goal with four top-class saves was Davy Fitzgerald.

Clare, quite remarkably, led 2-10 to 0-3 at half-time. Niall Gilligan scored 0-12 (0-7fs, 0-2 65s) and they allowed Kilkenny just 1-1 from play.

DJ Carey was unusually positioned at centre-back for the first-half and the Cats were without Henry Shefflin.

But even when 'The Dodger' was thrown forward he made little difference against an imperious defence led by Brian Lohan.

But, as always, wounding Kilkenny's pride came at a cost. In subsequent league matches they rattled in three goals apiece against Wexford and Tipperary and, when they met Clare again in the Division 1 final, they won 3-20 to 0-15.

That season also marked the last year that Kilkenny lost a championship game; that high-scoring All-Ireland semi-final loss to Galway.

Since January 2005 the 'Aristo-Cats' have played 55 league and championship games, lost only six times, only once in the championship.

And their tendency to exact savage retribution has already been witnessed this season.

Waterford beat them (2-17 to 1-16) in a league match in March, Kilkenny's first loss since last year's league semi-final to Tipperary.

They were without many luminaries like Shefflin and James 'Cha' Fitzpatrick but Eoin Kelly and Dan Shanahan were also non-starters for their opponents.

Ken McGrath (0-9 8fs) from centre-forward and Shanahan (1-1) ended as Waterford's top scorers and both are on the bench tomorrow.

But, in the immediate aftermath of that defeat, no one was safe from Kilkenny's wrath.

After beating Galway by 11 points next day out, they memorably rattled five goals past a shell-shocked Tipp in Nowlan Park, three against Clare and another four against what was, admittedly, a Cork 'B' team in consecutive NHL games.

Daly was at Dublin's helm when they then knocked three goals past Kilkenny in the last round of the league and were only two points adrift at the final whistle (1-23 to 3-15). Tipperary also proved the Cats are not infallible when scoring four goals against them in that marvellous league final (2-26 to 4-17).

Daly faced them again in the Leinster final when the Dublin defence actually kept superstars like Shefflin (scoreless from play), Eoin Larkin and Eddie Brennan relatively quiet.

But up popped Martin Comerford with 2-4 from play to fill the void.

"You keep their points low and they hit you with sucker-punch goals," Daly said yesterday.

Tactically, he noted, Galway got it right in the Leinster semi-final by closing down Kilkenny's pace and making it "into a battle at midfield".

Yet Brennan and Aidan Fogarty bagged goals before the break and, helped by a red card for Richie Murray, they rattled off 10 points uninterrupted in the final quarter.

Galway boss John McIntyre made his own suggestions this week about how to best approach the Noreside juggernaut.

blitzkrieg

"Hunt in packs, disrupt Kilkenny and it's critical that Waterford are still standing after 20 minutes," he said.

"Our game plan was predominantly centred on not banging puck-outs down on top of their half-back line because that's where they're so physically strong. That's where our short puck-out strategy came in."

McIntyre also suggested that Fitzgerald may need to deploy an extra defender in the first-half to crowd out an expected early blitzkrieg.

That's exactly what Waterford boss Fitzgerald did with Jack Kennedy when they beat them in this year's league; ironic considering Kennedy withdrew from the panel mid-summer.

"Waterford need to survive the early storm because if Kilkenny get a run on them you'd be fearful that the psychological damage from last summer, although I don't think that collapse is going to happen," McIntyre said.

Daly concurs and actually went further this week. He suggested that Waterford shouldn't try to erase last year's All-Ireland mauling, but should actually use it to motivate them, saying Fitzy should make his players watch that horror-fest match video not once, but twice this week.

But Kilkenny are chasing a 10th final in 12 years and are just two games away from matching Cork's four-in-a-row in 1944 -- within reach of hurling immortality.

And they are also nursing a few grievances themselves. There's that league defeat by the Deise to avenge. They were far from perfect in Leinster and their defence, uncharacteristically, has leaked 10 goals this year (seven in NHL and three to Galway) in Noel Hickey's absence.

Last summer the only goal they conceded was to Waterford. Hickey is back now and Cody will have them primed to keep a clean sheet.

A cat with a thorn in its paw comes at you spitting fire, so, whatever about a Waterford backlash, the Deise can expect a vicious one themselves.

- Cliona Foley