GER Loughnane’s iconic status as 'the Godfather' of Clare hurling is repeatedly echoed by the fact that any time Clare have won anything over the last five years Loughnane has always been the natural choice to present the medals. Loughnane has used that stage as a forum to outline his grand vision and hopes for Clare’s future. And, invariably, he has used Kilkenny as the example to follow.
At the 2010 Munster minor medal presentation Loughnane spoke about Clare’s pressing need in “three years' time” to be able “to contest the ball in the air and in the tight like Kilkenny”. At the 2012 All-Ireland U21 banquet, Loughnane focussed on character and its importance in building success, comparing Kilkenny to the All-Blacks. At last year’s U21 presentation, Loughnane spoke about Kilkenny again - but he changed tack slightly.
Quoting extracts from Robert Frost’s poem ‘The Road Not Taken’, he spoke about the perils of taking the wrong path, compared to the “uphill path trodden by the legends of hurling”. Yet he placed Kilkenny in a different context this time around. “The big ogre – Kilkenny - is beginning to lose his sense of danger,” said Loughnane. “There is a gap in the market again.”
When Kilkenny were hammered by Tipperary in March Loughnane returned to that theme. “It’s hard to believe there are so many ordinary players on the current team,” wrote Loughnane. “Some are barely of Intermediate standard. There is very little new quality. The speed at which the well has run dry is encouraging for every other county. But it’s alarming for Kilkenny.”
Losing 38 All-Ireland medals from the dressing room looked to have stripped another layer from Kilkenny’s aura. Yet where did that debate really start and end? After the 2011 All-Ireland final Kilkenny lost five players with 33 All-Ireland medals and they still went on to retain their title. Any fears during the spring were offset by how many big names Kilkenny still had to return. In any case, losing big players hasn’t diminished the aura. It has just kept shimmering as brightly.
That aura of invincibility is also intrinsically connected to Brian Cody. Although Kilkenny were crippled by injuries, the worst year they have had in the last 15 years was when Cody had to step away from the squad for nearly two months in April-May 2013.
Former goalkeeper David Herity recalled a story once to highlight how central Cody is to Kilkenny’s aura. At half-time in the 2012 Leinster final Kilkenny were 14 points down to Galway. Kilkenny still lost, but they outscored Galway in second half. That was where the road to winning that year’s All-Ireland began.
“Without the expletives,” said Herity, “Cody’s exact words were, ‘If anyone thinks here we’re bet, go into the showers because we’re going to war in this second half.’ I remember thinking, ‘Did I bring shampoo?’ I wasn’t being negative, I just felt we weren’t playing well enough to come back. Then I looked around and nobody else was thinking that way.
“There is never any panic in a Kilkenny dressingroom, especially at half-time. Even if you’re behind, there is this feeling of, ‘Relax, this is what we need to do to fix this, we will win’. You know you’re going to get a whole new lease of life for the second half. It’s an amazing thing to be part of. Once Kilkenny are alive and still breathing at half-time, they normally come out and just destroy teams.”
The 20 minutes after half-time three weeks ago confirmed as much when Kilkenny outscored Galway 0-9 to 0-2. Kilkenny lifted their intensity. They were making more tackles, winning more dirty ball. Kilkenny just know how to get it done; when to lift the pace; when to drop the hammer. After hardly training all summer with a back injury, Michael Fennelly looked loaded down from that strain when only making two plays in the 25 minutes before half-time. Yet he thundered into the second half like a human wrecking ball, making 17 plays.
Kilkenny’s mental strength adds to their aura of invincibility but how much are teams now taken, or distracted by, that aura? On the week of the All-Ireland final Waterford’s Kevin Moran had this to say: “Mentally, Kilkenny probably have 25 per cent on you because they know how to get it done.”
An hour before the final, a former Kilkenny player, multi-decorated with All-Ireland medals, spoke about that comment. He was taken aback that so many teams were putting Kilkenny up on such a high pedestal. The same player also referred to the repeated comparisons with the All-Blacks, and how amusing they found it in Kilkenny. “As long as everyone else thinks of us like the All-Blacks,” he said, “the better it is for Kilkenny. The harder Kilkenny will be to beat.”
This year’s All-Ireland success underlined once more how Kilkenny’s training games in the crucible of Nowlan Park prepare the players for whatever heat the opposition brings. This team is nowhere near the machine of the last decade but the fact that Kilkenny are now going for another three-in-a-row places as much focus on everyone else, and their failure to bridge that gap, as it does on Kilkenny’s greatness.
If they win three-in-a-row next year, then there will be talk about four, and maybe five-in-a-row. After Tipp took them down in 2010, everyone thought talk of that kind of dynasty building would never be seen or heard of again.
Talking about it again now may seem fanciful but this Kilkenny team beat Wexford in second gear, the Leinster final [against Galway] was over with 20 minutes remaining, the Waterford game was over after TJ Reid’s first half goal, while Kilkenny won the All-Ireland final with a solid second half performance. After the mass of big-name retirements last year, the belief amongst this group of players is that they are only getting started.
Kilkenny’s aura adds to their mystique, their air of invincibility, and by natural extension, their dominance. And unless other teams begin stripping back that aura, layer by layer, the dominance is going to continue.
