COMMENT: Kilkenny may be functional but at least their forwards actually want to score

This selflessness is fast becoming a curse on the GAA.

Team spirit, sacrifice, work ethic and primacy of the result is all well and good, but what about flair, arrogance, selfishness and moments of genius? Gaelic football has long since been lost to the realm of 'the-ends-justify-the-means', but we hurling folk always thought there was hope for the boutique code. We believed there were still enough artisans who saw style and substance as one and the same. Ger Loughnane kicked up a shit storm by describing the Kilkenny hurlers as "functional beyond belief", yet this past week, two of the brightest stars in the country unapologetically championed their contribution to a larger system for the greater good. They were basically explaining why it's great to be a functional hurler. Remember when Shane O'Donnell burst upon the national consciousness in 2013 with that magnificent hat-trick in the All-Ireland final replay win over Cork? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLUf3gwIm1U Here he was, all blond hair and teeth, like an ash-wielding Micky Dolenz, playing without fear on the biggest stage imaginable. Three goals in 20 minutes, one off his right, one off his left and one batted in over his head. Hurling's perfect hat-trick. The hysterical reaction of Ireland's adolescents to the young student was proof that Davy Fitzgerald had struck on a  very special talent - the sort of hurler who can capture the imagination of the casual sports fan. If George Best was the fifth Beatle, O'Donnell was the sixth One Directioner. For a brief, crazy period when his mother became his agent, he was bigger than the sport of hurling (in some quarters). A free-spirited, goal-scoring hurling pin-up. Along with the likes of Podge Collins, David McInerney and Tony Kelly, O'Donnell was the future of an exciting Clare team that were the future of hurling. Fast forward to April 2016 and O'Donnell, ground down by two fruitless seasons of senior intercounty hurling spoke this week in greys and browns. Working for the hurling clampdown. O'Donnell, at the grand old age of 21, was explaining the logic behind his role as a one-man full-forward line. A sacrifice that has seen him score a single point in four league matches. Crazy but it works. Yet they're the ones derided as "Stepford Wives" and "functional beyond belief". It's left to Kilkenny to display a little flair, their customary arrogance, bouts of selfishness and moments of genius. It's left to Brian Cody to get the best out of his individual hurlers and if that is functional beyond belief then I'll take plenty more of it.