Kilkenny silver generation continue to confound critics

This summer marks nine years since Kilkenny last lifted Liam MacCarthy. Hardly an intolerable drought by any normal standard, it nonetheless equals the Cats’ longest lean spell since RTÉ television started broadcasting games in the early 1960s.

From the outside, the level of hand-wringing and dissension doesn’t appear to be at the same pitch as it might be in the case of other aristocratic powers in the midst of a barren run (Kerry, for instance).

Firstly, because Kilkenny fans were fattened after a decade and a half of incredible, unprecedented success, even by the standards of the Big Three.

It had all become very routine by the end. It was in the bowels of the Canal End after the 2015 All-Ireland final that this writer witnessed one Kilkenny supporter (approx mid-50s) greet another Kilkenny supporter (approx 80s) with the immortal words “Well Ned, another one chalked off.”

While Brian Cody delivered his usual buck-lepping celebration with Mick Dempsey at the final whistle, the rest of the Kilkenny support very much took it in their stride. ‘The Rose of Mooncoin’, receiving its annual hearing over the PA, comfortably drowned out the cheers from the stands. There was no sense at this time that we were witnessing the twilight of the supremacy.

Secondly, the emergence of a historically great Limerick team has given this era an air of ‘exceptional circumstances’.

By contrast, Kilkenny’s last nine-year ‘famine’, between 1983 and 1992, occurred in a much more democratic era for the sport at the top end.

From ’84 to ’91, Cork, Galway and Tipperary all pulled in multiple All-Irelands, while then Leinster upstarts Offaly grabbed one in 1985.

In those years, Kilkenny couldn’t even escape Leinster most of the time. Wexford, not exactly pulling up trees, knocked them out twice and Offaly inflicted one notorious hosing. It was in June 1990, at the same time as Ireland were drawing with Egypt in Palermo and an anguished Eamon Dunphy was invoking the name of Peter Farrell and Tommy Eglington, that a few thousand die-hards watched DJ Carey and Brian Whelehan make their championship debuts in a Leinster semi-final – the score after 25 minutes? Offaly 3-08 Kilkenny 0-01.

When Kilkenny ended another seven-year drought in 2000, the first title of Cody’s long managerial reign, Willie O’Connor famously announced that over the preceding years, “this cup wandered around and didn’t know where it was going”.

In the 2020s, on the other hand, it knows it’s going to Limerick.

The spectre of John Kiely’s team looming over the entire championship has probably encouraged the Kilkenny support to cut this generation some slack.

“I wouldn’t say Kilkenny supporters are anxious about this wait for an All-Ireland title,” says former full-forward Richie Power. “Although I wouldn’t say they’re relaxed about it either…

“In Kilkenny’s eyes, nine years is a long time to go without an All-Ireland title and people will point to the fact that we lost finals in 2016 and 2019. But this team has proven in the past couple of years that they’re the second best team in the country.

“The truth is if this once-in-a-lifetime Limerick team weren’t standing in everyone’s way, this current crop of Kilkenny players could have two or three All-Ireland medals in their pocket.”

Of the side that started against Dublin, only Eoin Murphy and TJ Reid survive from the last All-Ireland winning team, though both Walter Walsh and Conor Fogarty were introduced as second half subs. Richie Reid, meanwhile, does have a couple of All-Ireland medals from 2014 and 2015 though was an unused sub both years.

Their latest five-in-a-row in Leinster seemed to creep up on people – partly due to the fact that it hasn’t felt like an era of overweening dominance in the province and partly due to Leinster’s status as the unloved sibling in the hurling championship.

Bizarrely, they’ve yet to beat Galway in the Leinster round-robin in five attempts and have only mustered two wins over Wexford in the same span.

Richie Hogan said earlier this year that provincial round-robin games left him cold, implying he wasn’t alone among the Kilkenny players. The much more forgiving nature of the Leinster SHC has maybe allowed them peak in time for the provincial final and beyond. By the time the Leinster final rolls around, they’re usually switched on and ravenous.

In 2024, their Leinster round-robin showing was hardly any more compelling than previous efforts, though they did finish top of the standings for a change. They were held to a draw by Carlow and were lucky to escape from Parnell Park with a victory. Even their depleted side’s impressive draw away to Galway in Salthill was subsequently put in perspective by the Tribesmen’s abject struggles this summer.

Their performances had been underwhelming enough that they convinced many a naïve sucker that this could be the rare year that the Dubs might take them down. Not so.

This year’s Leinster final was the least eventful of the many non-events that the Kilkenny-Dublin provincial decider has served up over the years.

However, it was another reminder of Kilkenny’s ruthless, no-frills efficiency, and their understated class.

Adrian Mullen, star member of the new generation, had a field day, hitting 0-07. Richie Reid, lying deep, sprayed ball around like Beckenbauer. All-Star corner-forward Eoin Cody pilfered another early goal. John Donnelly at wing forward is enjoying the season of his career and rustled up 0-03 from play.

Paddy Deegan, another member of the side seeking his first Celtic Cross, said afterwards that Kilkenny had felt “disrespected” by the commentary in the lead-up.

Dublin’s blooper reel of defensive errors made things fairly straightforward but there was a brisk brutality to the way Kilkenny put them away.

Derek Lyng, the boot-room style appointment to succeed to Cody, had in his second campaign presided over a Leinster final performance reminiscent of the dark days of the province, when he was still a player and their dominance was utterly unassailable and taken for granted.

“I don’t think we get enough credit for the consistency in this group of players,” Eoin Cody said after the Leinster final. “Obviously, we’re not a Munster team and we can’t do anything about that but we’ll always be there or thereabouts…”

That air of grievance, concerning both their own standing and Munster hurling’s insistent triumphalism, no doubt provided extra fuel as they turned over Clare in successive All-Ireland semi-finals, having entered as underdogs on both occasions.

In the last two years, most of the neutrals and the Munster hurling hype-mongers were yearning for a repeat of the Clare-Limerick grudge match in an All-Ireland final, especially after two provincial final humdingers (that clamour may have lessened this year). But Kilkenny, dour traditionalists that they are, refused to yield.

Third year running, the odds-makers and the pundit class appear to have learned their lesson and Kilkenny are slight favourites, though this has as much to do with a perceived dip in Clare’s performance levels in 2024 as anything else.

However, Power reckons that recent history places most of the pressure on Clare and that Kilkenny, with their deep history, of over-performing in these games, are in the right frame of mind again.

“I think most of the pressure is on Clare, given that if they lose this one, that’ll be three years in a row (they’ll have lost to Kilkenny).

“They’ve already beaten Kilkenny twice in 2024, the second time being in a league final. I think it’s as much a mental thing with them, in that they need their big players to perform and they haven’t quite done so in the last two semi-finals.

“Whereas with the Kilkenny players, we know they won’t drop their heads. That’s the one thing Cody always instilled, that everlasting spirit that can’t be broken. That’s continued under Derek and the transition has been seamless. Supporters know that Kilkenny players won’t lie down, regardless of who’s wearing the shirt.”

Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship semi-finals, Kilkenny v Clare (3pm on Saturday on RTÉ One) and Limerick v Cork (4pm on Sunday on RTÉ2). Both games available on RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1