Kilkenny1-21 Dublin 2-10:No soft-bellied, purring cats at Nowlan Park yesterday. Are there ever?
Unleashed into the league arena a week later than scheduled, Kilkenny, as they do better than anyone, immediately reverted to type - hungry for every ball, in attack and defence - to inflict a dose of painful reality on Dublin, who left more aware than ever of the gap between those who aspire and those who have already arrived.
If the postponed match with Cork left the All-Ireland champions working on the training ground a tad longer than planned, there was no evidence here of any lack of sharpness. Rather, Kilkenny started like dervishes, and had bagged the points long before Peadar Carton's injury-time goal gave Dublin a second and a touch of respectability on the scoreboard.
Kilkenny didn't give Dublin a chance to settle. It was one of those days when Eddie Brennan was on fire, finishing the game with a haul of six points from play, while Richie Hogan, in the corner, again demonstrated what a future lies ahead.
"I'd be very happy with that performance," admitted Kilkenny manager Brian Cody. "We've had some decent hurling practice among ourselves these past few weeks, but you need a match to see exactly how you're going. There's good competition for places, everyone's trying to get a jersey and that's the key to it I suppose."
Poor old Dublin were given a lesson, not just in the nuances of hurling and stickwork but also in the physical department as, more often than not, they were outmuscled for any loose ball. And, on the occasions when they did threaten, they were hunted down by a packs of Kilkenny players fighting to retrieve the ball as if their lives depended on it.
Kilkenny attacked early and often, moving into a three-point lead - 0-5 to 0-2 - a little over 10 minutes into the game, with Brennan and corner forward Aidan Fogarty doing all the damage.
Fogarty's impact was limited by a defensive switch that saw Patrick Bergin move across the field to mark him, but, as many teams have discovered, if any Kilkenny player is quietened there is another to take up the onslaught.
So Kilkenny reached the interval with a 1-12 to 0-7 lead, their goal arriving in the 30th minute when Dublin full back Stephen Hiney dropped a ball that came out of the full glare of the sun. The sliotar was immediately claimed by TJ Reid, who passed in to Richie Hogan. Dublin goalkeeper Gary Maguire had no chance.
Dublin had clung onto Kilkenny's coat-tails up to the 24th minute, at which stage they trailed by only a point. But an intense period of Kilkenny pressure yielded four unanswered points, before Hogan dispatched the sliotar to the net.
The most glaring symptom of Dublin's problems was the failure of any of their forwards to score from play in that opening half, midfielders John McCaffrey and Simon Lambert rowing in with a solitary point apiece to augment the haul of five pointed frees from Stuart Mullen.
The half-time talk had an effect on Dublin, but it was to prove short-lived.
After Ross O'Carroll opened the second-half scoring with a point, Kevin Flynn was on hand in the 47th minute to bat home after Mullen's long-range free fell short.
Kilkenny's response to the goal was to reply with an unanswered sequence of five points, the highlight being a superb sideline cut from TJ Reid.
Kilkenny never relaxed, substitutes Willie Dwyer and Eoin Reid showing just how much strength in depth there is in the squad with some fine points.
It probably came as something of a relief to Dublin when referee Brian Gavin signalled an end just seconds after Carton kicked to the net.
For Dublin manager Tommy Naughton it was a time to hold his hands up: "That's the All-Ireland champions, it is what they are. Awesome.
"It's a big disappointment, because I thought we'd give them a better game than that. But, there you go . . . it's part of a learning curve for us."
Naughton admitted a lesson in the flesh from the hurling aristocrats was actually more informative than any number of lectures to his young team.
"You can do all the talking you want but that's the level. You can talk about first touch. You can talk about the speed of doing things. But until you experience it, you can never get it across to them.
"It's an awful long way from minor and under-21 up to that level, even the physicality and power, never mind the hurling. But we're not the only ones trying to do it.
"We always knew that leagues are leagues and you take matches one by one. The next match is the next match and we'll prepare for that as best we can. We'll be out training on Tuesday night, out training on Thursday night and again on Saturday."
Thing is, so will Kilkenny.
KILKENNY: PJ Ryan; S Cummins, JJ Delaney, J Tyrrell; T Walsh, B Hogan, J Ryall; J Fitzpatrick (0-2, 1f), M Fennelly; R Power (0-3, 1f), E Brennan (0-6), TJ Reid (0-1, sideline cut); R Hogan (1-2), M Comerford (0-1), A Fogarty (0-2). Subs: W Dwyer (0-2) for Power (34 mins); E Reid (0-2) for Comerford (56 mins), PJ Delaney for Walsh (60 mins), C Hickey for Tyrrell (64 mins).
DUBLIN: G Maguire; P Brennan, S Hiney, P Bergin; M Carton, T Brady, J Boland; J McCaffrey (0-1), S Lambert (0-1); S Mullen (0-6, all frees), D Qualter, K Flynn (1-1); D O'Callaghan, P O'Driscoll, R O'Carroll (0-1). Subs: D Curtin for O'Driscoll (47 mins), P Carton (1-0) for O'Carroll (53 mins), G Bennett for Lambert (57 mins), J Burke for M Carton (59 mins).
Referee: B Gavin (Offaly).
