Kilkenny finally vulnerable? Don’t say it out loud, but it could be true

'Celebrate it," wrote Seán Moran in this space on the Wednesday after the 2010 All-Ireland hurling final. He was addressing the Tipperary team who had just ended Kilkenny's push for five in a row and were carrying with them a thousand glib declarations from all corners that theirs was the future now. "Celebrate it. The next one is never guaranteed."

Well, they listened to the first part. The rejoinder, however, took a little while to pierce through. A combination of an under-21 win for the ages the following weekend and the hopeful assumption that Kilkenny would be damaged in some way by finally attending a losers’ homecoming on the first Monday in September fooled more than just Tipperary folk. Rarely has a changing of the guard appeared so neatly packaged. Rarely has it been such a mirage.

Future winners

Coming off the pitch after that 2010 final, Henry Shefflin was 31, JJ Delaney was 28, Tommy Walsh was 27, Eoin Larkin was 26. All four had been hurler of the year at least once by that point and none of them was going anywhere. Michael Fennelly was 25, Richie Hogan and TJ Reid were both 22. All three were future winners of the same award.

Kilkenny weren’t done, is the point. The enthusiasm with which it was declared that Tipp’s era had dawned was an obvious – and, in fairness, probably forgivable – instance of the wish being father to the thought. We crave the shock of the new in all things, never more than in sport. It’s nothing personal. Often, it’s really just boredom getting the better of people who should know better.

In 2010, Kilkenny went home and gathered themselves. Cody retooled and returned with Paul Murphy and Colin Fennelly plucked out of the ether the following year, Walter Walsh and Cillian Buckley 12 months later. The minor team that had won the All-Ireland earlier in the day would in time decant Buckley, Pádraig Walsh, John Power, Ger Aylward and now Kevin Kelly.

So when he spoke the other day about players on the current panel “who haven’t been seen yet, who will be top players – and quickly”, it’s only right that we take him at his word. The Pacific will not drain. Kilkenny will not run out of hurlers.

Still, this feels different. When Liam Fennelly was asked on Today FM the other day if Cody might finally walk, his response was that he is needed now more than ever. The 2010 team didn't need rebuilding; this one does. If there was a transition period coming in early 2011, it was from being the greatest team of all time to one that was merely outstanding. It's no libel to suggest that they're quite a few notches further down the scale by now.

Turn civilian

Six of the team who started the 2012 All-Ireland final replay have retired. If Jackie Tyrrell and/or Eoin Larkin decide to turn civilian over the winter, that means half an All-Ireland winning team will have gone in four years.

Who watches that industrial quantity of talent, leadership, experience and refusal to lose disappear out the door and still fashions All-Ireland-winning teams without missing a beat? In time, the back-to-back titles of 2014/15 will rank very close to the apex of Cody’s achievements. It looks a hell of a feat already.

The pack seems closer to them now. Waterford will spend the winter nursing regrets but knowing that over two games at the highest possible intensity, they had Kilkenny's measure. They are evolving in front of our eyes and their players are young and fearless. They will want a piece of Kilkenny next year.

Others, too. Galway must surely go into 2017 believing they are at least a match for both finalists. Clare are starting from further back but some of these days they might well show that have access to the highest gear of all contenders. It will take the right moves outside the white line and the right mood within them but it’s possible at the very least. From this vantage point, it wouldn’t shake the earth for Kilkenny to fall to any of those three – or Tipp, obviously – at some point in 2017.

Ransacked

What Cody does next, then, will be fascinating. His team went out of both league and championship this year on days when his full-back line was ransacked. On both occasions, Joey Holden was left alone to fight a fire that overwhelmed his water supply. For it to happen once can be dismissed as an off day. Twice is different. Twice is what happens to other counties.

The days when Cody was able to slot another body in with the ease of a drummer whipping a spare stick out of his back pocket mid-solo are patently gone. Competition for places has always been the fire under his teams and yet a beleaguered full-back line evidently faced scant competition in his mind on Sunday.

So we sit and wait to see what they come back with. The next one is never guaranteed. For once, it feels entirely safe to include Brian Cody’s Kilkenny in that truism.