Leinster SHC Semi-final: Kilkenny 3-16 Dublin 0-10 Scenes from the orderly exit of Nowlan Park on Saturday evening: fans of Kilkenny hurling going one way, fans of Dublin the other.
On the streets the hurling conversation is short and sweet. Fifteen points, was it? All-Ireland champions, still looking good. But not many could know the rumblings that lay behind this victory.
Long before Kilkenny manager Brian Cody had delivered his post-match approval, Charlie Carter had already breezed out the side door of Nowlan Park. To say he was fuming is no exaggeration. Carter was named Kilkenny captain for this year but can't get his starting place, and on Saturday it appeared he wasn't even considered for a role as substitute.
Most likely there will be more talks, but this was the clearest indication so far Carter and Cody are not on the best of terms. As it seems even more unlikely Carter will regain a starting place in the forward line, his patience looks to have run out. From a Kilkenny point of view it was the one sad note from a game where their team were singing in harmony.
For Dublin, in Nowlan Park for the third Saturday in succession, it was one step forward (the first half) and two steps back (the second half).
Taking the half-time score in isolation, with Dublin hanging in there at 1-7 to 0-6, there could be some fresh hope for the future. In reality Dublin had played with the breeze and done all their best hurling. So Kilkenny just swallowed them up and twisted all dreams of a genuine crack at the All-Ireland champions, and the second half was played out with the inevitability that remains the trademark of these meetings.
"We came down here with great hope, but we just did not keep it together, especially in the second half," said manager Marty Morris. "Kilkenny nailed every mistake in our back line, and throughout the field I thought they were superb. But if we're ever going to beat them we have to perform for a full 70 minutes. And our score reflects that. If you score 10 points in the championship you're not at the races."
Morris went on to list all the rudimentary errors he's been trying to eradicate from Dublin hurling for the last six months. Over-running with the ball; two and three lifts of the ball; overcrowding in the forward line, and naivety in the defence. Not working hard enough.
"But there's no real excuses," he added. "The men that were out there should have been good enough to take this game to the wire, and they weren't."
If there was a point where Kilkenny just took off into the sunset it was Henry Shefflin's goal, 13 minutes into the second half. Held to one point before that, Shefflin took on several defenders and still had time to pick his spot. The scoreboard changed to 2-11 to 0-8. Game over.
To a man, Kilkenny were killing their opponents softly. Tommy Walsh, with his spring-like scores, took his total to 0-5; Eddie Brennan hit goal number three 10 minutes from time; and Richie Mullally was just about standing out in a defence that was universally foolproof. Cody has a way of playing down performances, but he couldn't hide the reality of this one: "It was a game I was always concerned about, and that's putting it mildly. Dublin are a good team, so to beat them well in the end is an excellent result for us."
With a strong show of supporters from Dublin (helping to delay the start 15 minutes) and some lively early exchanges the game opened well. Stephen Hiney settled nerves after 20 seconds and within three minutes Tomás McGrane had also seen his first shot brush just wide of the goal. Later on Brendan McLoughlin somehow got his stick to a full-on shot from DJ Carey, and just before the break Conal Keaney scored the point of the match by running a good 50 yards before sending a soaring ball between the posts.
Keith Horgan and Ger Ennis won't need long to forget this game, and defensively, Dublin rarely found the necessary shape to handle Kilkenny. Some last words of encouragement then from DJ Carey: "They'll just have to keep the head down, and keep things going. You need a team with all things going. If you look at Kilkenny right now, all the forwards can score.
"And the backs are pretty good too. People will look at this result and say Kilkenny are miles ahead. But it's not like that. There is no one individual in Kilkenny that is miles ahead of a Dublin player. It's just we're stronger as a team, have been together for five years now. If Dublin stick together then their day will come."
KILKENNY: PJ Ryan; M Kavanagh, N Hickey, JJ Delaney; R Mullally (0-2, one free), P Barry, A Cummins; D Lyng, P Tennyson; C Phelan (1-0), H Shefflin (1-4, one free), T Walsh (0-5); DJ Carey (0-2, one free), M Comerford (0-3), E Brennan (1-0). Subs: J Hoyne for Lyng (56 mins), W Burke for Cummins (60 mins).
DUBLIN: B McLoughlin; P Brennan, S Perkins, D Spain; S Hiney (0-1), K Ryan, D O'Reilly; D Sweeney, C Meehan; C Keaney (0-2), S Martin (0-1), K Flynn (0-2, one 65); T McGrane (0-4, all frees), K Horgan, G Ennis. Subs: T Moore for O'Reilly (33 mins), M Carton for Ennis, D Russell for Horgan (47 mins), R Fallon for Meehan (54 mins), J McGuirk for McGrane (60 mins).
Referee: B Kelly (Westmeath).
