Right now, as that forgettable Leinster hurling final recedes from view and their All-Ireland semi-final against Clare takes centre stage, everyone waits and wonders about Kilkenny’s place in the pecking order.
enuine contenders or fickle pretenders? Brian Cody’s semi-final overlords of old or the vulnerable version that has lost two on the spin?
Third favourites in a race of four, Kilkenny have arrived at another watershed juncture. What can we really expect in the coming hours, whatever about weeks?
“We definitely do view it as a shot at the All-Ireland,” insists Richie Power, who won eight Celtic Crosses in an era when Kilkenny monopolised Liam MacCarthy.
“Look, the last two years, we’ve fallen short and I think the big test for this group of players is to get over this hurdle. Being honest about it, if Kilkenny were to get over Saturday night, I’d give them a savage chance going into an All-Ireland because no team – whether it be Limerick or Galway – will fancy meeting Kilkenny.
“I know Kilkenny mightn’t be as strong as they were,” Power concedes. “But whenever that Kilkenny jersey is put in front of you, there seems to be that fear factor put into teams – and I think that will be no different, even if it is a Limerick going for three-in-a-row. They’ll still have that little fear factor because Kilkenny, on their day, are a match for anyone.”
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In December 2020, the wounds of defeat to Waterford still painfully raw, Aidan Fogarty gave a candid synopsis of public opinion on Noreside. “When you’re not winning, I think supporters can be fickle and we haven’t won an All-Ireland in five years,” said ‘Taggy’, another owner of eight All-Ireland medals under Cody’s command.
Tongues were “beginning to wag”. People were asking should he stay or should he go? “If it was any other manager in Kilkenny, I think his head would be on the chopping block. But it’s Brian, it’s going to be his decision.”
It’s worth stressing that Fogarty’s own position, at the time, was that Cody should remain. Kilkenny had reached the 2019 All-Ireland final with “a good team, not a great team” while the characteristics they displayed were “Brian Cody traits – so I’d be worried about, if he goes, where are we left?”
A glass-half-full critique of that Covid-blighted season would point to Kilkenny winning a first Leinster title since 2016.
And the glass-half-empty? Kilkenny had raced nine points clear of Waterford and still led by seven at half-time, only to suffer a calamitous malfunction thereafter. Outfought, outfielded and more especially outrun, they were overwhelmed during the third quarter and eventually lost by four.
But to go from wagging tongues to loaded guns was never likely in Kilkenny, of all places. It was Cody’s decision – and he stayed.
Then he made it back-to-back Leinster titles. Cue another semi-final, where Kilkenny led by four early in the second half before Cork’s speed machines stepped on the gas and surged six ahead … it was only Kilkenny’s remarkable resilience, that old Cody lietmotif, that somehow salvaged extra-time.
Destiny delayed: they lost by five. In the context of what Limerick then visited upon Cork, Kilkenny appeared as far away as ever.
But this time the murmurs were absent as Cody signed on for another year, duly overtaking Seán Boylan as the longest continuously serving inter-county manager in modern GAA history.
Now he’s made it a provincial treble, teeing up Kilkenny for a third consecutive semi-final against Munster opposition – Clare.
During the first 21 seasons of Cody’s 24-year reign, Kilkenny reached 18 semi-finals and lost only two, each time to Galway, in 2001 and ‘05. Failure this evening would mean they’ve lost three semi-finals in just over 19 months. Any suggestion that Cody has lost his mojo will be countered, vehemently, by advocates pointing to that Leinster hat-trick achieved with players that pale beside the all-time greats he once marshalled.
And even if his semi-final record has taken a recent battering, Cody engineered one of his finest last-four wins just three years ago. This remains the only straight knock-out championship match that John Kiely’s Limerick have lost in the past five seasons.
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Richie Power’s first semi-final in Black-and-Amber was that crazy goal-fest defeat to Galway in 2005. For the remainder of his senior career, before his injury-enforced retirement in early 2016, semi-finals were all about winning.
Reflecting on their recent ‘semi’ struggles, the two-time All-Star says: “They had Waterford beaten two years ago and, whatever happened, things just kind of fell asunder. And last year, they put themselves in a great position to beat Cork as well.
“So, they’re not a million miles away and it’s just that last little push. And I think if this team can get over that, it will give them unbelievable confidence going into an All-Ireland final … they can have a crack off Limerick because Limerick will go in as favourites. And if it’s Galway, there’s never much between Kilkenny and Galway.”
There are myriad reasons why Kilkenny couldn’t sustain winning positions against Waterford and Cork, but the key difference was speed. Down the home straight, they were burned.
Power believes management have acknowledged as much in their approach to 2022. “Without a doubt, I think it was legs that caught them on both days. In particular against Waterford,” he reflects. “Brian has gone with more legs and more youth in the team this year … we’ll see Saturday night whether he’s got that right.”
The Carrickshock man is happy with the defensive configuration but less convinced about an attack still heavily reliant on the enduring influence (from play and placed balls) of TJ Reid. Their top three SHC scorers are the Ballyhale triumvirate of Reid, Adrian Mullen and Eoin Cody – and even the latter was held scoreless for the last two games, against Wexford and then Galway in the provincial final.
“Richie Reid coming in at centre-back has given us an even more settled look in the defence, with Paddy Deegan going to number seven and Mikey Carey at five. Mikey Butler has probably been the find of the season – from any team that’s out there,” says Power.
“But it’s up front where I don’t think Brian knows his best six, which is probably worrying because our forwards haven’t shot the lights out.”
Power is hoping this is the night they catch fire, but it may “depend on what six forwards he puts on the field.” As for Cody’s mantra that he always picks teams based on training, for several, it’s not happening on match day.
“Personally, I think Pádraig Walsh needs to be in this Kilkenny team on Saturday night. It’s been a very, I suppose, unusual selection of teams over the last two days because some decisions have come really out of leftfield.
“Look, it’s very, very hard to get that flow when the same six players aren’t playing with each other on the same day or two days in a row. I think that’s what’s happening to Kilkenny these days.”
Whatever transpires tonight, whether the genius of TJ or Tony Kelly prevails, there are green shoots of optimism. This year’s All-Ireland U-20 triumph was a first in the grade since 2008. Even if it takes a few years to bank that dividend, this could be vital for a county crying out for tangible signs of underage regeneration.
“That’s where the foundation of any success starts,” says Power. “But still, within the group of players we have, they’ve won three Leinsters in a row … and they’ve just come up slightly short in two semi-finals. I certainly think this team is not 100 miles away.”
The last mile is often the hardest.
