'The question marks are still there' - Kilkenny legend ahead of Leinster Final
Silver up for grabs: Plenty to look forward to on massive final weekend in hurling
A lot of teams have already exited the hurling provincial championship and gone out of the championship as a whole and it’s really getting down to the serious business of the year.
Kilkenny and Galway meet in Croke Park on Sunday for what is a very serious game and nothing that happened in Nowlan Park a few weeks ago will really come into this game.
Going straight into an All-Ireland semi-final is the route you want to take, yet at the same time even losing a final although its not part of the plan, it’s still only one more game to bring you back to the last four.
The first cups are up for grabs and on the day each team will be doing their best to outperform their opponents.
Looking at Kilkenny they can only beat what’s put in front of them. If you said six years ago that they would go on this run you’d think that wouldn’t be achievable given the fact that Galway were in a very strong position at that stage.
You would have thought that they may have taken one or two titles in that time, but credit to Kilkenny as they are the dominant team.
Regardless of the opposition over that time and Kilkenny not following it through and winning an All-Ireland, nevertheless they will still be happy with what they have won in that period.
This winning run in the province has been very good for the younger players in the squad as they get a trophy in their hand and a medal in the pocket which they’ll be very pleased with while also hoping it’s a stepping stone to winning an All-Ireland.
Kilkenny have navigated this part of the season very well in the last few years. One thing in particular that’s gone well is the way they have managed their personnel as regards injuries and timed their run very well too.
There were a few years there where Kilkenny played Clare in two All-Ireland semi-finals after winning Leinster and maybe weren’t fancied to win after their opponents came through a difficult Munster campaign, but the Cats showed that they are capable of timing their run and come to the peak of their powers when needed.
That’s the stage we are getting to now so I’ve full faith in the management that is there as they know what they have at their disposal in the squad.
The players themselves have been here before so they are well used to being in this situation and making the most of it when they are.
Michael Donoghue is only in his first year during his second term as Galway manager so if they were to win a Leinster title, it would be overachieving.
In the first year of any management you try to put your own spin on any team and get your own style of player on to the players and that’s not easy.
If they did take the Kilkenny scalp, that would certainly bode well for this Galway group. They are coming in under the radar a little as they haven’t been that impressive up to now.
Galway played well in Parnell Park the last day against a Dublin side that had been performing so they’ve a lot of markers there that they will be happy with but at the end of the day, if they go and win this weekend and put themselves in an All-Ireland semi-final that will make the year a success regardless of how it turns out afterwards.
They will be quietly happy in the way they are coming into this game and there’s no reason for them not to throw everything at Kilkenny and see where it gets them.
Overall though I think Kilkenny should have enough to win and one of the things I’ve noticed with Galway is their goalscoring record against some of the bigger counties where they’ve struggled to hit the net on occasion.
Kilkenny on the other hand have been very free-flowing in front of goal and with the likes of Mossy Keoghan, TJ Reid and Eoin Cody in the team, they look to be in a stronger position.
Galway are coming good but the question marks are still there. They are over-reliant on Cathal Mannion at centre forward and Brian Concannon is their only big goal threat up top if they are to try and find the net.
A few more questions have been answered by this Kilkenny team and I just think the panel as a whole are a little more established so when you measure it all up in the different areas and you compare and contrast, as it stands Kilkenny look like they have too many areas that they can dominate for Galway to get a victory.