Leinster SHC final/ Kilkenny 2-24 Wexford 1-12: There should be a black box, some device for hurling's forensics people to examine as they sift through the wreckage of this Wexford performance.
There needs to be clues as to what went wrong. Instead, there is just that damning statistic of a scoreline and the memory of a team shouting mayday, mayday from the fourth minute, when Kilkenny hit their opening goal.
The favourites duly annexed their 64th Leinster title in a game that had as much tension as a game of scrabble between a poet and a distracted child. If Wexford appeared to give up early so did many of the crowd; the official figure of 34,872 had dwindled to half that early in the second half. It takes a bad day to test the steadfastness of Wexford's gallant support. This was a bad day.
Of all the sorrowful mysteries of Wexford hurling this was one of the most heartbreaking. When Kilkenny thumped them in the league semi-final we said Wexford had hobbled themselves with heavy training. Wexford have the hurling, we said. They do, but yesterday they could not find a way of expressing it.
Distressing sights all over the field. Not his worst enemy would wish upon Declan Ruth the sort of afternoon he had. We say afternoon, but we mean quarter of an hour or less. During his brief time on the field he had the misfortune to turn a Willie O'Dwyer shot into his own net, to have Henry Shefflin make a fool of him while setting up Kilkenny's second goal and then to get booked before being hauled off after 13 minutes and heading straight down the tunnel from where his volcanic frustration was audible.
Sad to see a great servant of Wexford hurling depart a game in that manner, but it was a poignant day all round for Wexford.
With Ruth's departure, Keith Rossiter moved to full back and Willie Doran came in at centre back. Band-aids rushed to a massacre scene, unfortunately.
Wexford had a few satisfactory performances (Stephen Nolan deserves honourable mention in all dispatches), but generally they were outgunned and outfought and occasionally we had to count to make sure they were not actually outnumbered.
Kilkenny played to their own tempo. They started allegrissimo and finished moderato. Shefflin had one of those afternoons that will go straight into the "career highlights" reel. His mischievious genius in creating Kilkenny's second goal was matched a little later when, infuriated at having driven a free wide, he displayed extraordinary skill to score a sublime point just seconds later.
Shefflin scored five points from play, a figure matched by Martin Comerford. Although the moment will probably be forgotten it was Comerford who drove the final nail into Wexford's coffin late in the first half.
Nolan had just handpassed to Darren Stamp for a fine point which brought Wexford to within 10, but more importantly gave a glimpse of their potential. From the poc-out, though, Comerford caught the ball, turned and drove it over Wexford's bar.
No resurrections, thank you.
Kilkenny were so comfortable they could take off their entire half-back line and full back without visible signs of distress.
Their control was so absolute that every time Wexford showed a sign of life Kilkenny put a foot back on their throats. Eleven points was an insurmountable half-time deficit, but just in case Wexford had romantic notions, Kilkenny drilled the first four points of the second half, all in the space of three minutes.
John Meyler, the Wexford manager, stood on the sideline looking like a man who had set up an umbrella stall only to find himself in a hurricane.
Is their any point in going through the gruesome details of the run of play? It seems indecent. There are just moments which stick in the memory.
Barry Lambert bursting through on the Kilkenny goal, tossing the ball to strike only to be engulfed by Jackie Tyrell and JJ Delaney. The ball dribbled, unstruck, wide. Nolan driving a 21-yard free for a goal only for PJ Ryan to save brilliantly.
Minutes later, Nolan planted a small flag of defiance, driving a penalty low and hard after Stamp had been fouled, but it was too little and came after liquidation.
In the rather hushed aftermath Brian Cody pointed out that both sides have three weeks to prepare for quarter-finals. The only difference between the teams was that Kilkenny had the big shiny cup.
Hmmm. From the Wexford dressingroom seconds later we could hear shouting as Meyler tried the verbal equivalent of placing paddles on the chest of a flatlining patient.
We knew then that Cody, for once, was being less than frank.
KILKENNY: 1 PJ Ryan; 2 M Kavanagh, 3 N Hickey, 4 J Tyrell; 5 T Walsh, 6 B Hogan (0-1), 7 JJ Delaney; 8 J Fitzpatrick (0-2), 9 M Fennelly; 14 M Comerford (0-5), 15 E Brennan (0-1, sideline cut), 12 E Larkin (0-2); 13 E Reid, 11 H Shefflin (0-9, four frees), 10 W O'Dwyer (2-3). Subs: J Ryall for Walsh (45 mins), J Dalton for Delaney (49 mins), J Tennyson for Hogan (52 mins), M Rice (0-1)for Reid (59 mins), D Cody for Hickey (63 mins).
WEXFORD: 1 D Fitzhenry; 2 P Roche, 3 D Ruth, 4 M Travers; 5 R Kehoe (0-2, one free), 6 K Rossiter, 7 C Kenny; 8 D Lyng, 9 E Quigley (0-1); 10 M Jacob, 11 D O'Connor, 12 S Nolan (1-5, goal a penalty, three frees, a 65); 13 N Higgins (capt), 14 D Stamp (0-1), 15 R Jacob (0-3). Subs: W Doran for Ruth (13 mins), R McCarthy for M Jacob, B Lambert for Higgins (both half-time), P White for C Kenny (44 mins), M Jordan for D O'Connor (49 mins). Yellow cards: Ruth, Travers, Doran.
Referee: P O Connor(Limerick).
