Paul Murphy- Kilkenny in a good place but Croke Park final future worth debate

One of the key points that came from Kilkenny’s Leinster final win on Sunday was that Galway had quite a flat performance.

Kilkenny could only beat what was put in front of them all the same and performed really well as they built up the lead in he first half.

Every Kilkenny metric was far better than Galway on the day and while they’ll be disappointed to let the Tribesmen back into the game late on after being ahead by 13 points, they still held them off and got the scores they needed in the end.

Adrian Mullen got a crucial effort to put them five clear and even Mossy Keoghan’s poacher’s goal was important too, so Kilkenny will be really happy with that.

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It also looks like they will have a better bill of health for the All-Ireland semi-final with Eoin Cody likely to be back so all around the field they’ll be happy with the performance both from individuals and as a team.

It was a convincing victory in the end and Galway never really got within striking distance.

Galway will be very disappointed with their showing. Their lack of scoring opportunities created will really frustrate them.

Eleven scores after 40 minutes won’t cut it at this level and one score from play between the 25th and 60th minutes tells its own story.

Apart from Brian Concannon’s goal late on, they never really threatened Eoin Murphy as they didn’t really test the Kilkenny defence, while they hit a lot of aimless ball on top of Richie Reid.

Kilkenny were set up well in that respect but Galway weren’t getting the heads up to see where players were free. There was plenty of aspects of things going wrong and Kilkenny were just on top everywhere.

While it was tit for tat early on, Galway quickly drifted out of the game and it will definitely be cause for concern for Michael Donoghue. They never mounted a challenge - but that’s not Kilkenny’s issue to worry about.

TJ Reid at full-forward and Huw Lawlor at full-back were superb all through and there was many other big displays from a Kilkenny point of view.

I wouldn’t say there will be any cause for concern about Kilkenny not being tested yet. If you look over the last three years, they have beaten Clare twice and that was a Clare team who had been battle-hardened after coming through Munster.

They definitely would have liked a little more competition in some of the matches but there’s still a freshness to them as they’ve been able to rotate players.

I wouldn’t be concerned ahead of the All-Ireland semi-final in the lack of a test point as they still look hungry. With the potential team they could face being Limerick, there would be no fear there either.

So all in all Kilkenny are in a very good place as it stands.

I’d never say never on any changes they could make to the Leinster final as I’ve played in semi-finals in Tullamore as well as Portlaoise. The smaller venues do promote an atmosphere and it’s a decision now for the Leinster Council after the weekend.

The GAA need to figure out what they want from their games. Having smaller stadiums full brings more energy to proceedings and it adds a big match experience which is very difficult to match in Croke Park when there is anything less than 60,000 in it really.

It’s just the lie of the land in Leinster hurling at the minute where they are only attracting about 35,000 spectators. You’d have to wonder is it better off to fill up a smaller ground like Tullamore or Portlaoise.

You could even explore the option of doing what Munster do where there is a home and away type scenario where it’s rotated every second meeting. These are all options on the table; I don’t see why the conversation couldn’t be had about doing that if it means creating a bigger atmosphere.

It’s definitely an option to promote Leinster hurling a little better and it could even be explored ahead of next year’s final.

Big Occasion

The Cork and Limerick game on Saturday is the dream scenario. Never mind just the hurling, every sport aspires to have something like that.

It’s something you want to have in the calendar. The Munster championship has consistently given us great days and I know a lot of people have spoken afterwards about the skill not been of the highest quality, but you don’t mind that as it’s a big day and players are nervous.

When you look at the different aspects, you had a sold out stadium with a very young crowd and a very exciting game which provides a perfect mix.

That is the target for not only hurling but also football as well as that’s the level the GAA wants to get to with these brilliant occasions.

It was a great day for hurling people and Cork in particular but in a wider point for the neutral watching on, it was an event that had everything. It’s a match that will live very long in the memory for many years to come.

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