Kilkenny have lost to Galway and they’ve lost to Wexford and Brian Cody, you’d have to imagine, is not too happy with that fact.
They’ve qualified for a Leinster final which, as a step up the ladder of this championship, is mission accomplished but it’s not that they’re there, it’s how they got there. They’ve score-difference and round-robins to thank for that and, as the great man himself said in his post-match interview with Anthony Nash, they’d prefer to be going in on their “own terms.”
Because anyone who was present in Nowlan Park will know that, whatever way you look at it, this game was very much played on Wexford’s terms tonight.
Kilkenny got off to the dream start, leading by 1-4 to 0-2 after ten minutes but Wexford were just spluttering at that stage. They quickly shed the dirty diesel and when it came down to it, men like Lee Chin, Matthew O’Hanlon, Liam Ryan, Damien Reck and Rory O’Connor all stood tall.
It was their county’s best display in a long time and, apart from Mikey Carey and Mikey Butler, there were very few Kilkenny players who matched them. Wexford’s subs only improved the thing then with Conall Flood, Mikie Dwyer and Cathal Dunbar all scoring priceless points down the stretch, while young Charlie McGuckin, with his speed of mind and foot, was the man who got their running game going.
It led to one hell of a roar in Nowlan Park, with Wexicans everywhere going mental, as @NiallMcintyre reports from Kilkennyhttps://t.co/H45pjJMx7G
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) May 21, 2022
So there’s a lot to ponder for Brian Cody and his side ahead of their clash with Galway in the Leinster final on Saturday June 4. The manager talked of his disappointment “with the display and the result.”
“We didn’t come here to think about other results anywhere else. We came here to play a huge game against Wexford and we came out second best,” he added in his chat with Nash on Sky Sports.
And then he was asked the million dollar question about Henry Shefflin managing Galway,
“Well we’re playing Galway,” he said, quick as a flash, “That’s the way we look at it.”
And that’s exactly how they will look at it.
https://twitter.com/GAA__JOE/status/1528112150941777920
