Opinion- Wexford win will serve Kilkenny well going forward

Wexford started the game on Sunday very strongly and even pushed out to a five point lead at one stage and Kilkenny were just getting to grips with what Wexford were throwing at them.

Wexford were sharp and hungry and they were playing a very aggressive brand of hurling.

They took the game to Kilkenny and they definitely started quicker than the Cats but we upped things considerably when coming out of the tunnel for the second half and were really aggressive.

Kilkenny got on top all over the field and looked completely in control going down the home straight with a five or six point advantage.

Cian Byrne’s goal brought Wexford back into it and it turned into a really tight match and that ball that broke at the end could have broke to anybody but thankfully it went to Mikey Butler and Kilkenny were able to come away with a one point win.

It was a great battle and you’d have to give great credit to Wexford aswell and it’s a win that Kilkenny certainly earned but it’s also one that will stand to them for the rest of the championship.

John Donnelly was the first of the Kilkenny players to get on the scoresheet and the likes of Richie Reid and Paddy Deegan also chipped in with points while the forwards were settling.

Even though the forwards weren’t scoring they were still contributing a lot off the ball which is hugely important as you can’t just have forwards in there expecting to score and not working off the ball.

Even the forwards that it wasn’t working out for on the scoreboard, they were still playing a huge role and if you then look over at the likes of David Blanchfield who caught a few great balls over Lee Chin and won some statement turnovers.

Then you’d Eoin Cody who really anchored that forward line as he made the ball stick up top even if he didn’t score until well into the second half and Mossy Keoghan was another one who was lively.

I thought Billy Ryan’s workrate was excellent aswell as he was coming deep as well as hooking lads so for the backs to see that was great.

As a whole team performance, the players will be absolutlety delighted as they all worked really well together and ground out scores and tackles when they needed them the most.

It’s great after already being in a league final that they are now into a Leinster Final and they won’t take Dublin for granted at all.

I don’t think Galway took Dublin for granted but I think it just showed that if there is a small bit of blood in the water then Dublin are more than capable of causing trouble to a team.

Kilkenny came out the better side in Parnell Park but the last two games have brought Dublin on aswell so it’s a dangerous game.

I do think Kilkennny have been tested enough this year to deal with it though and a lot of these players are so comfortable with playing in Croke Park and these big occasions and that will all stand to them.

Kilkenny have played a lot of games in recent weeks but now they are looking at it and thinking if we play our cards right here we might only have three games to go.

A Leinster Final, an All-Ireland semi-final and an All-Ireland Final and that’s exactly how they will be thinking.

They’ll be looking no further than the Leinster Final first but suddenly the path for the year also looks a lot clearer and it’s easy for a team to focus when they see what’s in front of them.

The players will be looking forward to the next few weeks and what potentially lays in store for them.

I said two weeks ago that nobody in the championship had a perfect copybook with regards to how their performances were going and every team was looking for some sort of improvement.

Since the Carlow game, Kilkenny have really upped their intensity and upped their performances and the way they played on Sunday was a lot different to the Carlow game a few weeks ago.

You have to give credit to the players and management for that as they have reacted very well and it’s amazing the difference in a few weeks of what the perspective looks like.

Kilkenny are still unbeaten so there’s plenty of positive signs and even if you look across the province at the likes of a Galway, they would have bitten your hand off for the position that they sit in at the moment.

Kilkenny had lots of tough games throughout the round-robin and there was a lot of pitfalls along the way.

If you look at all the other teams in Leinster, they had problems navigating their way through the five games including Wexford losing out to Antrim in Belfast.

For Kilkenny to come through all that unscathed and qualified for a Leinster Final while unbeaten really is a testament to the team at the moment.

Going into another Leinster Final as the defending champions is a savage spot to be in.