All-Ireland and NHL champions Kilkenny maintained their impressive start to the season with an ultimately comfortable win over Galway yesterday at Nowlan Park.
Only two matches into the campaign, the win virtually assures them of qualification from Division One A of the Allianz National Hurling League.
Although the largely home support in a crowd of around 5,000 will be happy, it was an unfulfilling afternoon from a neutral point of view.
More like a series of unrelated incidents than a continuous contest, the match meandered along until the champions extended their stride in the second half and fully deserved the points.
Conor Hayes is the latest manager to undertake the arduous task of sifting through the abundance of senior hurlers to come up with a plausible combination.
Yesterday won't have made the job much clearer. The visitors struggled to exert pressure on Kilkenny's assured defence - although Cathal Moore took scores if not influence off Peter Barry - and at the back they eventually buckled under the physical challenge of their opponents' forwards and the constant storm of good ball from their half backs.
Yet, Galway started well.
Rory Gantley's dead-eye free-taking helped them to a 0-6 to 0-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. It was featureless stuff though. At various stages it was hard to believe that there was so little between the teams as one side and then the other seemed to emerge from periods of dominance with little to show for it.
Sure enough, Kilkenny eroded the four-point deficit without raising a gallop. Jimmy Coogan nailed his frees, but, in the absence of DJ Carey, Henry Shefflin and captain Charlie Carter - a late withdrawal due to injury - the holders' attack stuttered.
They were helped by the inaccuracy of Galway who posted eight first-half wides - more a waste of possession than of that many genuine scoring chances.
As the first half neared the end, Kilkenny went up the gears a bit and the match flared into something faster moving and more exciting.
The home county's latest legend-in-waiting, young Tommy Walsh, started at centrefield and gave ample indication of the scope of his talent.
More likely to be handed corner back or wing back duties this summer, he nonetheless gave an accomplished and gutsy display (requiring a facial stitch at one stage) at centrefield and fired over four points.
A lovely turn and strike pushed Kilkenny ahead, 0-8 to 0-7, three minutes before the break and it was to Galway's credit that theyregained the initiative just before the break.
By this stage Galway had shuffled the pack more than once to try to piece together a winning hand and there were more changes at half-time with Ger Farragher replacing Richie Murray and Kenneth Burke coming in for Fergal Healy at corner forward.
A couple of minutes after the restart, Kilkenny were level after Coogan pointed another of his five frees.
The turning point came in the 42nd minute, albeit not in the conventional sense. A sideline cut from Gantley was misread by Larkin, allowing Broderick to slip in for a goal.
This gave Galway a four-point lead, but it was more a sign-off than the start of anything more positive for the Connacht side.
Kilkenny raised their game and overwhelmed their opponents by 0-11 to 0-2 in the time that remained. Within three minutes they had eradicated the deficit.
A free from Coogan, a slalom run and point by their best forward Martin Comerford and two stylish scores from centrefielders Walsh and Derek Lyng snapped back the momentum away from Galway.
You got a sense of Galway's attitude when Gantley went for goal from a close-in free with 10 minutes to go even though there were only two points in it.
The shot was blocked and the winners pulled further away, providing some diversion for the crowd when goalkeeper James McGarry pointed a free from his own 40.
It was a particularly gratifying win for Kilkenny given the absence of their top guns and keeps them ticking over nicely for the challenges ahead.
KILKENNY: J McGarry (0-1, a free); M Kavanagh, N Hickey, P Larkin; R Mullally, P Barry (capt.), JJ Delaney; D Lyng (0-2), T Walsh (0-4); B McEvoy, J Coogan (0-7, five frees, one 65), J Hoyne (0-3); D Mackey, M Comerford (0-2), E Brennan. Subs: B Dowling for Mackey (47 mins); A Geoghegan for Brennan (47); S Grehan (0-1) for McEvoy (62).
GALWAY: L Donoghue; D Joyce, L Hodgins, A Coen; T Regan, D Cloonan, S Kavanagh; R Murray, D Tierney; R Gantley (0-5, three frees), O Fahy (0-3), F Healy. Subs: G Farragher for Murray, K Burke for Healy (both half-time); E Donoghue for Regan (47); J Conroy for Kerins (69).
Referee: W Barrett (Tipperary).
