First of all let’s put things in perspective, I’m 60 years of age and have been traveling to pairc ui chaoimh the old and the new one. I cannot recall us ever winning down there even with the best team that ever was. I remember a draw once .most of the matches were close and were often swayed by a home town decision. I certainly was not that confident going down there yesterday.there is just a few things I would like to point out.
1/ The referee was an absolute scandle 13 frees to 2 in the first half.
2/ when the ref gave so many frees our defence are under pressure (it’s like getting a yellow card)and it upsets there game.
3/ Cork were floundering in the first half and only relied on the refs generosity (half there scores in the first half came from frees 7 out of 14 we had 1 point from a free.)So we were the only ones fouling
4/ the Cork goal from the build up should have been a free out for a throw pass and Fitzgibbon also over carried twice on the way in.
5/ the Cork county board supplied the ref Seán Stack with a penthouse apartment in the Metropole hotel with three hookers and a bag of cocaine.
Anyway besides all that in the the second half we gave away three or four points trying to roll rise the ball and got turned over and the tactic with Cian Kenny up the wing didn’t work out with the supply been intercepted every time.Cian was called ashore after having a good first half Padraig Walsh wasn’t in it at all . And everything else puckouts etc. will have to be looked at and lessons learned. Finally I don’t think we’re that bad ,look at the first half. Cork only took the lead in the 62 nd minute and we wrestled it back to lead by a point before the goal was scored in the 68th minute.
Very dissapointing second half last night it was a pity because we done some great things in the first half and it was the best we played in a while. We were out on our feet in the last ten and needed to use the bench more but didn't. We drove a few bad wides at critical times I remember deegan and blanchfields effort drained us. Billy Ryan was throwing his hands up inside. The fear was we'd go back to route one when the pressure came on. We also gave away a few cheap scores from puckouts and as someone said here the other day Darren brennan is probably a better distributor.i thought we were the better team for a lot of the match but we were out on our feet in the last ten mins and the longer it went on the better cork got. Another thing is we should of being futher ahead at half time but a few handy frees kept cork in the game at a time were dominant. The blanchfield dummy handpass was the joke of the night.13 frees to 2 in the first half but someone must of said something at half time. The cork goal was a killer think it was 8 or 9 steps. Padraig was very quite last night. Id much prefer to see darren mullen corner back than delaney.The few positives is we've a had a decent league and a few new comers have done well.The puckouts and our distribution when the pressure comes on is still a huge concern and we won't make the next step till these are rectified but we done some very good things last night its not all doom and gloom. It's obvious what the problems are.
Was there many from the u20 missing or is that it
I wouldnt be overly critical of Murphy. At least some of the long puck outs have an intended target. A few scores were got off broken ball. The half forwards disappeared in that second half. If anything his short puck outs are the problem. They are either to the fullback line or no one. He needs to hit some halfbacks and midfield. Kilkenny haven't had a very good midfield in a long time. Its ironic because 5 or 6 years ago midfield play looked obsolete.
TJ will make a difference ,especially with those long bombs. Kilkenny don't have the time to fine tune hitting the half backs.
Jesus wept, there's Waterford supporters close to 70 who've never seen their county win Liam McCarthy
The better team with the better tactics won tonight. Both Carey and Butler were very solid under a lot of pressure, but you can't beat a top team when we are giving up so much possession mainly from our own puck outs. On the positive side when we do go through the lines Cody and Ryan are well able to finish, the problem is supplying our inside line for the full 70 minutes.
The attack has to come from the halfback/midfield line like cork were doing and we were doing in the 1st half. In the 2nd half the ball wasn't going through blanchfield and carey enough. If we learn from this we can compete against any of the top teams.
At face value that looks a really good result for Kilkenny, especially as team looks very young with a good few players even U18.
Joe Fitzpatrick playing U20 centre back while U18 is serious and a reminder that depsite a lot of gloom, we do still produce serious hurlers.
What we do with it is the big question
You're probably right, after all, Cody's overall strategy is win your own ball. And maybe the puck out gets focused on too much, but it's a pivotal part of the game and watching tonight, especially in the 2nd half, I just put my head in my hands every time the ball went long for the puck out, as Cork came out with it most of the time, and it's getting very familiar! It's so frustrating to watch time and time again. In that regard, Eoin Murphy becomes the easy target. For what it's worth, I think we need a change in management.
Surely that's the Manager's doing? I'm convinced he isn't fully committed to any puck out strategy other than long. The few short ones we see are just token efforts on his part. Eoin Murphy is doing exactly what Cody wants him to do.
Not accurate enough. If we have a puck out strategy, it's one without any conviction - carried out roughly 50% of the time with no repercussions if its not followed
One other thought on the puck out strategy is that Kilkenny play little or no puck outs to the wing backs or midfield, it's either short to full back line or long bomb. More variation is needed but I do wonder if Murphy is accurate enough with the medium ball to be effective.
Lehane will always do well on a winning team.
Our lads did a lot right such as nullifying Horgan and Kingston.
The biggest disappointment was Cody's lack of action. We were always going to need all five subs to keep the momentum going but he didn't use enough and didn't use them early enough. And he must approve of the puck out strategy, its hardly Murphy's own doing.
I've been saying it here with 3/4 years Eoin Murphy's distribution is terrible and a massive problem he has to go .....
No point in complaining about the Cork crowd booing. We have plenty of our own who've done it over the years.
It says a lot about what Cork think of us when their full forward line dropped to the 45 for every one of our puck outs and I don't think that changed in the second half. They flooded the half back line with bodies and then just counter attacked at will when the ball hit the ground. We actually just gave them exactly what they wanted. I don't really recall Carey or Blanchfield receiving a ball from our full back line in the last 25 minutes.
We turned over around 3 balls at the start of the second half where Kenny tried to run down the left hand sideline and a loopy ball was attempted over his shoulder to hit him in stride. After that we seemed to lose all confidence in the short game so Cork could afford to drop into the half back line and defend the long ball. Did we get any decent ball into Keoghan or Ryan in the second half? Did Keoghan actually touch the ball in the second half?
Joyce at half back for Cork is top class in my opinion. They have problems in the full back line and I can't say I enjoy their style of play but they're a very very good team with crazy athleticism. And if Lehane carries this form into championship then fair play to him for turning it around as I genuinely thought he'd never be seen again after he didn't play last year.
I wouldn't say it's either. We've nothing to be arrogant about; most lads on the team haven't won anything of merit with Kilkenny - dual-winners of the league last year doesn't really count so you'd have to go back to 2018 for the league win. And stupidity is harsh.
But it is so disappointing when you see the puck outs being lumped down the pitch to no one in particular. It pains me to say it, but when we're under pressure and the game is in the melting pot, Eoin Murphy only sees one option for the ball. He's not a good distributor of the ball and unfortunately there was a few instances where that was obvious tonight. I don't like putting lads down, he has been a super player for Kilkenny in the past and a better shot stopper you'd do well to find. Cody has to shoulder blame for this too. We can work it though the lines as shown tonight but we need a sizeable improvement if we want to win anything.
Positives today is that we scored 2 goals, hit the post,Billy Ryan had a great chance of another. More signs of form from Eoin Cody, Billy Ryan if he gets decent ball. Mikey Butler too. Lads tried their best. We gave away far too many frees but Cork are a running team and they got away with a good few thrown balls. In fairness, a Cian Lynch blatant throw resulted in a goal against them last year. I really hope that the crackdown on throwing the ball and too many steps hasn't ended.
Blanchfield did okay but will learn from today, Huw Lawlor has had a good league, Paddy Deegan needed the game. We seemed to run out of steam in the second half and should have brought on subs sooner. Cian Kenny is still learning, this year may be too soon for him, maybe Conor Browne might fill one of the midfield spots.
Overall, not too disappointed. Better team won. But throwing the ball is a plague, that and taking too many steps are destroying hurling
Imho I do think it's time for change in Kilkenny. Cody has been a fantastic servant and great hurling man but I think a bit of freshness is now needed there. He has been the best manager and had the best hurling teams/panels from 2000-2015 with 11 All Irelands. He owes nothing to anyone. I just can't see him winning any more with the current setup he has. I'm not having a dig at anyone here, but just a thought from outside the county.
Is Cody waiting for the wheel to turn? Seems so as he's sticking to his old tactics by and large.
Didn't see the match but disappointing to read that we reverted to our high hanging ball in the 2nd half. It clearly doesn't work so it's either arrogance or stupidity that we keep going back to it.
I think in the first half Cork were not at the pitch of the game at all. Kilkenny had far more aggression. When Cork matched that in the second half it became far more difficult for Kilkenny to sustain the 'through the lines' game. Kilkenny probably just don't have the team to sustain this style of play successfully right now.
And by successfully I mean winning an All Ireland title. Anything could happen in Leinster but that won't count for a lot really in All Ireland terms as arguably the three best teams are outside Leinster. I'm not sure they "changed the tactics", I think what happened in the second half was forced upon them.
Ironically while people will welcome the coming back of TJ Reid, his aerial ability is more likely to encourage the long ball route.
And, on a different note, when you see the pace of the second half tonight I think maybe it's time people were finally realistic about Richie Hogan. Cody is talked about in relation to this player as if he is setting out to personally victimize him, and that the player is somehow owed more because of past service. Doesn't work like that I'm afraid. It is impossible to imagine a player of his longevity with so many injury issues in recent years getting to a point where he could have a significant influence on a major fast-paced championship game as a starter. Not even sure using him in cameo roles would best serve the future of the team or really impact a high level match either. It is a poignant moment for a county when it gets to that stage for someone who served with distinction but there's no point in praising Cody's supposed "ruthlessness" over the years and now expecting him to be influenced by terrace emotion.
Finally, on the individual player side of it, is it reasonable to say that Kilkenny need a new goalkeeper for the modern game?
The competitiveness they showed and the vulnerability of the Leinster opposition could take them deep into the All Ireland series yet again and if that happens results will temporarily noise over any criticism which will be dismissed as too negative. But I reckon the same post-match conversations will re-emerge before summer is out.
That second half tonight (1-13 to 0-8) was a good clipping. They might now be in a kind of frustrating limbo where they are good enough through the circumstances of their province to continually qualify but not good enough to achieve the next level. Interesting summer ahead for the county.
The big thing that struck me about tonight was Murphy's puck outs in the second half. The best shot stopper in the game but he fumbles it when going short (or the recipient does) but when he goes long Kilkenny rarely get possession. I think it will and has been factor in the championship.
I think the game was a good work out for the lads.
First off well done on the win best team won. I'm not being a cry baby at all just some one from cork comes on above and says if we meet in croke park this year Kilkenny will get a hiding and that we would probably put up a better game against Limerick😁 that's why I responded about cockiness. Ye have a few band wagoners following cork hurling with statements like that and the booking and whistling for the Kilkenny free taker.
Unfortunately quite a sizeable of the Cork crowd were at it.
What I meant about the venue - could the booing shower not get comfort enough from home venue without resorting to their unsporting behaviour. A bit of respect doesn't go astray.
Not sure, but I don't approve of it.
I thought Cork played Kilkenny in Nowlan Park last time they met?
And while you're on here, why do the Rebels boo so much? Was home venue not enough?
The sad thing is that there are kids as old as 10 that have no memory of Kilkenny winning an All Ireland. How times have changed. We are going through a barren spell that doesn't look like it's going to end soon
Don't be such a cry baby. Kilkenny were beaten by the better team tonight. It happens in sport. Kilkenny have been on top for such as long time in hurling and Cody has been a fantastic manager and servant to Kilkenny. They had super teams from 1999-2019 .Yes Cork got a hiding in the final last year by Limerick but while they cant change the past they can certainly change the future. Limerick playing Cork in 3 weeks time, I reckon Cork will be competitive this time around. Cork full back line is a liability and definitely needs addressing. Thank you Kilkenny for highlighting this problem.
Had Murphy much option but to go long Delany lost two short puck outs and Cork scored off them. Why was our hurling carrier booked to night.
Absolutely nailed. and yes, Cody's stubbornness has been his Achilles heel and is also the reason why we still insanely bomb high ball in 2nd half of matches, especially when things get tight
We started misfiring after about 40 mins, bad wides, snatched shots and the awful puck outs, but the game was still there to be won.
You need accurate shooters when a game is in the balance, and we didn’t have them Donnelly and Maher and R Hogan are much more accurate than Keoghan Ryan and Buckley but the first two weren’t brought on till late on and Hogan wasn’t even on the bus
Yanks have a great term for it "clutch players”. Players who will finish under pressure.
I'm not too disapointed, Carey and Butler look great finds and Blanchfield although not great tonight also looks nailed on. Eoin Cody looks ready to light it up again.
We have a better 8-15 than the set that started tonight but will Cody take heed and will he finally see the insanity of the puck outs?
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