SINCE there could be no mistaking the famous red jerseys, it must have been the strange Cork faces that caused the confusion. Otherwise it would be difficult to explain Kilkenny's remarkably benevolent approach to this Division One tie in the Church and General National Hurling League at Nowlan Park yesterday.

Either way, the public certainly weren't complaining. In fact, they were treated to some sparkling play in a tense second half in which the tightness of the scores guaranteed a rousing finish. Yet for all that, one sensed that Kilkenny were operating comfortably within capacity.

Cork were barely recognisable from the side which had lost disappointingly to Tipperary two weeks previously. They battled earnestly throughout and their overall performance suggested that extensive and sometimes frustrating team-building is, at least, guiding them in the right direction. The defence has certainly tightened up significantly.

Meanwhile, the forwards rocked Kilkenny with two goals in four minutes early in the second half. Suddenly, the prospect of the home side coasting to a comfortable victory with the aid of a fresh breeze changed into a grim struggle for survival. Indeed the scores were level for a second time with little more than two minutes remaining. That was all Kilkenny needed to secure the winning points. The first was a beautifully-executed, 40-yard effort from Charlie Carter, who struck left-handed, on the turn. Then came the final score, this time from Michael Phelan from the same distance.

But for all that, Kilkenny's D J Carey had a glorious afternoon. Though his scoring contribution was a seemingly modest three points from frees, Carey was admirably generous in his distribution of the ball. In fact he was involved in every other Kilkenny score for much of the match.

His first concrete contribution came in the 11th minute and led to his team's goal. Three minutes earlier, he looked certain to find the net, only to have a close-range effort deflected for a 65 by Ger Cunningham (who went on to have a brilliant match between the Cork posts).

When Carey broke through again, however, he hand-passed the ball to Carter who was surging forward on his right. The corner forward had time to steady himself before sending an unstoppable shot to the net. That score left Kilkenny leading by 1-2 to 0-2 against the breeze and with no problem in sight.

So it remained until the 26th minute when Alan Browne scored Cork's first goal to give them a slender lead of 1-5 to 1-4 at half time.

Then came the crucial, early minutes of the second half, when the contest was set alight. Brian Corcoran restored Cork's advantage with their second goal in the 35th minute, from an accurately placed centre by Ger Manley.

That was followed, three minutes later, by the drama of a penalty. The referee had little option in punishing Martin Carey, but, in attempting to clear, there was no way the Kilkenny goalkeeper intended to deliberately strike a Cork forward on the head. In my view, he was guilty of carelessness, nothing more.

From a scoring standpoint, however, his motivation hardly mattered. Manley's penalty was exemplary in that it was struck with sufficient power to force the ball over the line, even though it was partially saved. Significantly, within minutes of a score that had given Cork a lead of four points, Kilkenny moved D J Carey from full-forward out to the 40.

And so, the fight-back began. Three successive points from Derek Gaffney, Den is Byrne and Carey, closed the gap to one point. Then Corcoran scored for Cork, only for Carter to respond once more for Kilkenny. Indeed this particular Carter effort was notable in that he kicked the ball over the cross-bar when it was apparently easier to score a goal.

But the same player more than compensated through the skill of his crucial, closing points. He and Carey were the outstanding Kilkenny forwards; John Power was outstanding in midfield while, in defence, Pat Dwyer and wing-halves Liam Keoghan and Philip Larkin were most effective.

Kilkenny can now look forward to a place in the quarter-finals at least and may, possibly, go straight through to the semi-finals if they beat Tipperary in their final game of the round robin series in a fortnight. Cork, on the other hand, will have a relegation battle on their hands when they meet Clare.