To the surprise of the 50 spectators present, yesterday's O'Byrne Cup first round at Hore's Wood, county Wexford, turned into the epiphany of D J Carey, senior footballer. As people drifted in to the pleasant venue on a brilliantly sunny but chilly afternoon, word circulated that the Kilkenny hurling legend would be turning out for the county footballers.
Carey and centre back Paddy Mullally were the only players on the pitch with Leinster senior medals, both having played in last July's demolition of Offaly in the provincial hurling final.
Mullally was until then better known as a footballer. On Carey's sporting agenda, football would struggle to come in fourth.
Yet he was a lively presence on the field. His enthusiasm and pace on the left wing led to his scoring a point after half-time and setting up numerous other chances, including the team's only goal and the penalty award which was unfortunately missed before half-time by the otherwise reliable John Maher.
"I played in the county intermediate (football) final," he said, "and Ned Quinn (county chairman) asked if I would help with the footballers. I said I'd do anything I could to help lift football off the floor in the county. So when he asked me to play in this, I said I would. I played under-age all the way up but I hadn't played at senior level until today."
Although the county has long been numbered amongst hurling's aristocracy, its football fortunes have been correspondingly dismal. Exactly 100 years ago, Kilkenny won one of their three Leinster championships but since then, as the county became the 20th century's most successful force in hurling, football declined and became nothing.
Yesterday was not alone Carey's first appearance for the senior footballers but it was also Kilkenny's last senior outing for the year. The county doesn't contest the championship and withdrew from this season's National League - apparently the introduction of scoring averages has meant that teams now feel obliged to trim Kilkenny or face losing out on advancement. So it was O'Byrne Cup or bust.
The outcome will hardly have astounded the world but it was a genuine effort from the losers who were competitive for much of the 70 minutes. Unfortunately Wexford's standing - such as it is - is based on some more-than-useful forwards and consequently they extracted top dollar for their periods of supremacy.
Kilkenny officials know the score when outside media interest focuses on their footballers. Ned Quinn prevailed on DJ Carey to line out for the team, "to give the lads a bit of a lift". He is involved in an administrative initiative to try and breathe some life back into the moribund big-ball game.
He is more hesitant than he would ever have to be when discussing hurling. "It's a long, long road from here to any sort of improvement but the longest journey can start with the shortest step. We know that to everyone else it's a bit of laugh and that it's easy to come here and write us off and make a skit of the whole thing."
Actually it wasn't that easy to go there and a number of the Kilkenny players got delayed and the throw-in had to be held back.
Someone suggested that a big crowd at a soccer venue nearby might have beguiled them into believing they'd found the venue.
Wexford themselves aren't that many places up the ladder from Kilkenny but those rungs separate different worlds. Only six years ago, Wexford were Leinster semi-finalists.
A good league run last season may have ended catastrophically with a defeat in Cavan through a late penalty - and the subsequent two-year suspension of then manager JJ Barrett for his outraged response - but there are some reserves of optimism around.
Last year, the minors took Dublin to a replay in the Leinster final and Good Counsel from New Ross won the All-Ireland schools' Hogan Cup. (Kilkenny pupils are a traditional feature at the school and, ironically, two of yesterday's county team, Paddy and Richie Mullally, were both educated across the border.)
Wexford have comparatively big names. Scott Doran has seen Railway Cup action with Leinster. Mattie Forde was a scoring sensation in the Leinster club championship with Wexford champions Kilanerin. John Hegarty is a Sigerson medallist with UCD and Jason Lawlor is familiar on the same circuit from his days in WIT.
First-half goals from Doran and Forde made Kilkenny's job nearly impossible but they plugged away. Maher's accuracy from frees, Seamus Hennessy's imposing bulk but impressive accuracy and Carey's potential gave them some weaponry in attack and the backs scrapped away.
Other options were limited - to the extent that Kilkenny had only two substitutes and one of them was mentor PJ O'Connor who could hardly be blamed for exercising his authority to ensure he didn't have to tog off. As a result corner forward John Dowd went off for a breather before being re-introduced.
Wexford go on to face Laois next week.
Wexford - 2-15, Kilkenny - 1-8
WEXFORD: B Molloy; C Morris, C Doyle, P Kehoe; G Hughes, J Whelan (0-1), B Kavanagh; J Darcy, M Kavanagh; J Lawlor (0-2), D Kent, D Kinsella; S Doran (1-3), M Mahon (0-2), M Forde (1-6, goal from penalty, two points from frees). Subs: J Hegarty (0-1) for Kent (half-time); P Wallace for Doyle (47 mins); P Wickham for Morris (58 mins); D Breen for Kavanagh (62 mins).
KILKENNY: S Murphy; J Walsh, E Roche, J Roche; P Roche, P Mullally, G Campion; A Murphy, R Mullally; P Mullins, T Dermody, DJ Carey (0-1); J Dowd, S Hennessy (0-2), J Maher (1-5, all points from frees). Subs: B Maguire for Dowd (45 mins); J Dowd for Murphy (65 mins).
Referee - E Whelan (Laois).
