John Donnelly’s late point sees Kilkenny home against Cork in unhinged affair

NHL Division 1A: Cork 1-17 Kilkenny 0-21

At this time of the year every game is subject to seasonal adjustments; other games are just unhinged. Kilkenny obliterated Cork for about 25 minutes, led by nine points against the wind, threatened to run amok, and in the end scrambled over the line with a 70th-minute winner. And Cork? No short answer.

For both teams there were bright glimpses of what the sport psychologists call the best version of themselves, but in rhythm with a league game at this time of the year there were periods of benign meltdown too. Cork failed to score for 13 minutes in the first half with the wind at their backs; Kilkenny failed to score for 14 minutes in the second half with the wind at their backs. One goal materialised from half a dozen goalscoring chances.

Some stuff, though, has nothing to do with early season rustiness. When Kilkenny were on top in the first half too many Cork players behaved like traffic cones, stationary and inanimate. Kilkenny marched the ball down the field as they pleased, repeatedly working the ball to a loose man in the scoring zone.

The Cork goal was bombarded. Eoin Cody and Adrian Mullen were electric in the Kilkenny attack, but they had five different scorers in the opening 20 minutes and had six points on the board before they committed their first wide. Most of the time, they were shooting under just a breath of pressure.

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Against Clare a week earlier Cork had surrendered a staggering 1-15 from turnovers and whatever pledges they made to themselves during the week about minding the ball better, they coughed up four scores from turnovers in the first 20 minutes. In that period of the game everything about them was dysfunctional.

“I’m not going to make excuses now, it wasn’t good enough,” said manager Pat Ryan. “We need to figure it out really, but I think we were too slow and ponderous against a very good Kilkenny team that worked their socks off in the first 25 minutes and put us under fierce pressure. But I thought we were architects of our own downfall – we didn’t move the ball quick enough, we didn’t get the ball into inside line.”

Kilkenny were 0-13 to 0-4 in front after 26 minutes when the game started to change. The excellent Tommy O’Connell, Tim O’Mahony and Patrick Horgan stitched together three scores in succession, and in stoppage time Conor O’Callaghan burst through on a pass from the improving Seán Twomey. O’Callaghan’s finish was low and firm and having been outplayed for most of the first half Cork trailed by just three points at the break, 0-13 to 1-7.

Kilkenny stretched their lead to five points again early in the second half, but they didn’t kick on and Cork finally delivered some sustained, efficient aggression. Their numbers on turnovers spiked in the third quarter, including a handful of clean blocks, and they started to dominate Kilkenny’s puck-outs. By the end of the game Kilkenny’s success rate on their own restarts was just over 50 per cent, compared to more than 70 per cent by Cork. Those numbers blended into an altered picture.

“I suppose at the end of it we were hanging on, if you like,” said Derek Lyng. “We had a few chances to finish it off but Cork had a number of chances as well. Just overall very happy with the effort.

“The performance was decent. At times we looked very good and at times we found life hard out there. We would have been disappointed the way we finished the [first] half. There’s always going to be periods in the game when you’re not on top and it’s just about seeing it out a little bit better.”

A run of five unanswered points brought Cork level 16 minutes into the second half, and Conor Lehane’s fourth point from play put them in front for the only time in the game after 58 minutes. Kilkenny responded, though, with three of the next four scores, all of them from substitute Billy Drennan; he landed a couple of frees and a beauty from play.

Off the Cork bench Ger Millerick and Mark Coleman made a huge impression. Having missed all of the 2023 intercounty season with injury Coleman’s return is particularly significant; his impact was instant. In 25 minutes he had 10 possessions, including an assist and a secondary assist and three wins on Kilkenny puck-outs. His touch on the ball and his desire to attack energised Cork.

Down the stretch, though, Cork hit some critical wides. In total they had 42 shots but only 18 scores. Kilkenny were more efficient and their winner was a sweet score. John Donnelly extracted the ball from a cluster of bodies and made a quick, abbreviated swing on the run. Class.

CORK: P Collins; S O’Donoghue, E Roche, E Downey; T O’Mahony (0-1), N O’Leary, R Downey; T O’Connell (0-1), C O’Callaghan (1-0); L Meade, C Lehane (0-4), S Twomey; R O’Flynn (0-1), P Horgan (0-9, 0-9f), S Kingston.

Subs: G Millerick for R Downey (21 mins); B Roche for Meade (h-t); E Twomey for O’Callaghan (43); S Barrett (0-1) for O’Flynn (44); M Coleman for E Downey (49).

KILKENNY: E Murphy; M Butler, H Lawlor, T Walsh; D Blanchfield, D Corcoran, S Murphy (0-1); C Kenny (0-2), M Carey (0-1); C Heary, J Donnelly (0-2), A Mullen (0-5); B Ryan, L Hogan, E Cody (0-7, 0-5f).

Subs: M Keoghan for Ryan (h-t); B Drennan (0-3, 0-2f) for Hogan (45 mins); K Blanchfield for Carey (51); W Walsh for Heary (55); P McDonald for Kenny (64).

Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick).

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