After a week of hand-wringing about competitive standards in Leinster, yesterday's Guinness Leinster hurling final came down like a hammer on those optimists who had believed that Offaly were ready to make a match of it with Kilkenny. The third successive instalment of this provincial final pairing was possibly the most disappointing of the three. Offaly's collapse was as total as in 1998 but Kilkenny didn't quite reach the lofty standards of last year.
Some elements of the match are, however, unchanging and just as last year it was an opportunist goal by DJ Carey which turned the match around for Kilkenny after a first half in which Offaly had looked the better team. For Carey this was the fifth goal in the last three Leinster finals and a perfect example of how his goals turn matches even when his impact in general play isn't at its height.
From then on, the match was running strongly in the champions' favour. Offaly lost confidence and authority in those areas where they had been playing well and Kilkenny simply overran them by an even greater margin than last year. Offaly's morale wasn't as robust as last year when their challenge was drained by a persistent haemorrhage of goals. Yesterday once Kilkenny tipped the pedal, they moved smoothly out of sight. The afternoon started with the positive news for Offaly that Kevin Martin was fit to play at left half back. Captain Johnny Dooley won the toss and opted to play against the wind, a decision flung back at him by the capricious elements which simply blew the other way in the second half.
Kilkenny manager Brian Cody must wish that the match had been more competitive, the better to judge his team's current form. When there was actually a contest, Kilkenny stuttered more than somewhat but having established their rhythm, things went satisfactorily.
John Power gave a fine aggressive performance at centre forward and caused Brian Whelahan a number of problems and signalled that he hasn't been deflated by last year's All-Ireland final eclipse by Brian Corcoran. Whelahan isn't at his most comfortable at centre back but in fairness to Power he played bravely through a hand injury, picked up early in the match, and only left the field after an hour with the result in the bag.
A major plus was the apparent recovery of form by Charlie Carter who racked up 1-4 from play and had another goal disallowed for no fault of his own when referee Willie Barrett spotted Henry Shefflin chopping at Niall Claffey in the build-up to Carter's finish.
Noel Hickey was very competent at full back and saw off Joe Errity just after the start of the second half, his replacement John Troy and finally - in the move which won an All-Ireland but in the past two years has more resembled extreme unction - Brian Whelahan, moved up from centre back.
One switch Brian Cody can be very pleased with was the swapping of Philip Larkin and Peter Barry in the 19th minute. This followed a dynamite opening 15 minutes from Brendan Murphy on Offaly's left wing. In his first Leinster final, the young Ballyskenagh forward shot three points from play in the opening quarter of an hour.
Barry's arrival put the brakes on Murphy and he added only one more point. Given that Gary Hanniffy had one of his productive days, the two least experienced players in attack had seven points between them and that added up to a serious shortfall among all the experienced players. This was particularly noticeable in the forwards where Troy came in for Errity and Michael Duignan, Paudie Mulhare and Johnny Pilkington all shuttled around the place in an effort to find an effective configuration.
Kilkenny's attack, on the other hand, moved freely and scored easily. All six forwards scored from play and Stephen Grehan, in his first final, hit three points. On the downside, Henry Shefflin had a difficult tussle - although only a fine save by Stephen Byrne kept out a goal five minutes into the second half - with Simon Whelahan before the Birr corner back was tried on Carter, and Carey, not generally prominent, was well marked by Kevin Kinahan.
Then again, you don't have to be generally prominent if your goals have as serious an impact as Carey's did. With Kilkenny trailing by a point, he zipped in from the right around the back of the defence and finished into the far corner. This was the cue for the champions to move and Stephen Grehan, Shefflin and Carter extended the lead before the interval.
Offaly's much needed tonic of a good start wasn't forthcoming. Instead Shefflin pushed Kilkenny two points further ahead. Curious decision making didn't help. A minute after Joe Dooley had broken a ball from Aidan Hanrahan, a second-half substitute for Duignan, and tapped the break into the net, Johnny Dooley addressed a close-range free. A point would have cut the deficit to three. Rather than take the conservative option, Dooley blasted the free and although Hanrahan got to the rebound, Larkin cleared well off his line.
To compound this, within a minute Carter had his goal disallowed but after Hanniffy had brought the margin down to three, Carter again got in from the right and deftly hit the ball over the advancing Stephen Byrne's head. With 25 minutes left, the match was over. To emphasise the point, Kilkenny rattled off an unanswered salvo of five points to push the lead to 11 points.
This was the ultimate margin of victory. In the last 15 minutes, all Offaly's frantic changes and desperate assaults on goal yielded nothing more than parity in the closing exchanges. Murphy might have had a goal but with commendable vigilance, goalkeeper James McGarry was still alert after 69 undemanding minutes.
Throughout the second half, Offaly's incoherence in attack was at the root of their troubles. The defence battled away but had to endure constant pressure as cleared ball rained back in on top of them. Kilkenny were athletic and relentless from Andy Comerford and Brian McEvoy at centrefield up into an attack which took its scores well.
