Paul Murphy Column- Bench impact can see Kilkenny over the line and thwart Limerick hopes

I think it has been a good hurling championship so far with Munster being the highlight for how competitive it is.

There’s definitely a sweet spot there with three teams going through and two losing out, and the lack of safety net has certainly proved that the system is working there.

Obviously, in Leinster, you have your two big hitters in Kilkenny and Galway and the fact that Wexford and Dublin failed to hit the heights of previous years takes a bit of the competition out of it but when you compare it to the football championship, I think you have to be really happy for the way the hurling is going and that we have had exciting matches throughout the year.

With new management it’s tough to know how a team is going to get on, but we knew with the potential in this Kilkenny team there was always the possibility of them getting to the final.

You almost have to have a small bit of leeway with a new management coming in and putting their own spin on things but you’d never doubt Derek and his ability to get the best out of the team.

You never know in someone’s first year just how the players are going to respond to the new formations and tactics and the feel in the dressing room but you could see throughout the year just what Derek has done with the team.

Really when you look back on the year, there was no luck involved — everything was mapped out. They are fairly justified in being the team in the final to face this great Limerick side.

There was a lot of talk when Brian stepped aside about who would fill in for him and whether someone would be able to step out of Brian’s shadow. The evidence of Derek and the lads doing it successfully is that there has been very little talk really.

We’ve seen snippets of people talking about Brian and there were pictures of him in the stand after the Leinster final, but really the management have done an excellent job of going about their business and blooding a few players and putting a shape on their team as opposed to the team that went before them the last few years.

The management deserve full credit on that. One thing we saw in the semi-final victory is that there seems to be a different vibe or atmosphere coming off the team as well; they seem rejuvenated to a certain extent.

You get that sometimes with new management but, to be fair to them, they’ve done a great job in putting their own spin on it.

They hit the ground running and that was crucial for us in peaking at the right time ahead of the All-Ireland final.

Kilkenny have gone under the radar a little this year and I think that’s been symptomatic of the team over the last few years as you can look back on quite a few games where they have been the underdogs.

Kilkenny played Clare in the All-Ireland semi-final last year and very few people were tipping them to win — they completely tore them apart.

This year again, people were saying that Clare would get to grips with them and do enough to beat Kilkenny, but it’s remarkable really how they’ve performed in beating Galway in the Leinster final, and subsequently Clare, and still come in under the radar.

That will all suit Kilkenny though as they now have a free shot against Limerick while also knowing that they are fully capable of beating them.

There’s no pressure or expectation on them at the moment and they can just go ahead and hurl .

On the other side much of the expectation and pressure is on Limerick, but I don’t think it’s something that they are too burdened by either.

They have a huge backroom team that is well able to deal with this and they have measures in place so that there’s not too much talk of three in a row, four in a row or even five in a row or anything like that.

They seem to just go with every match as it comes which is the only way to deal with these things so I don’t think that dressing room is too caught up about replicating Kilkenny or beating Kilkenny in terms of legacy and things.

They concentrate on just one individual game in front of them which makes them a very dangerous team from that regard as they are less likely to take their feet off the ground.

They will still be fully aware of the parallels and comparisons that are being mentioned to the Kilkenny team of the 2000s but, nonetheless, I don’t think it weighs on them. They are very much enjoying what they are doing. They just want to go and win for themselves rather than any records or anything.

The start is important to Kilkenny and we saw the impact of a good start when Galway played Limerick in the semi-final.

You have to believe that Kilkenny will pose the same threats that can also cause issues to the Limerick defence.

This Kilkenny team is fresh off the thoughts of last year’s final. I would say they’ve learned from the mistakes that they made then.

I think one thing they’ll be wary of is the threat of the likes of Aaron Gillane and Gearoid Hegarty and the way they played in last year’s game will certainly have Kilkenny on guard.

If this was Clare playing Limerick at the weekend, people would be saying that it’s probably 50-50 and a few people would be tipping Clare. Ironically, as Kilkenny are in the final fewer people seem to be fancying them.

We’ve seen Galway go up and pose big problems to Limerick while Clare also beat them — Kilkenny have beaten both of those teams. I think what’s really important is that Kilkenny have the bench to stay with Limerick for the 70 minutes.

You saw it against Clare that the five subs that came on for Kilkenny were all individually picked for the part they were going to bring to the game.

That’s massively important. I know it’s going to be a very stern test and the lads are going to have to play to their maximum but, if they can stay with Limerick, I’d have full belief that if things go right for Kilkenny that they can go on and win the All-Ireland and win it by two or three points.