The unstoppable machine rumbles on.
The fairytale finish for Galway seems to be as far away as ever this evening after they lost out to Kilkenny by 1-22 to 1-18 in the All-Ireland hurling final, in a game that they may feel they let slip through their hands.
But that would be to do a disservice to the greatest GAA team, the greatest GAA manager and one of the best 35 minutes of hurling seen this season by the Cats.
It was a win not borne of outrageous flicks or skill. It was not lit up by an individual performance that will live through history. And the DVD is unlikely to be a firm favourite on any Christmas stocking outside of Noreside.
But the game should be highlighted as an example to any aspiring coach or player on how you play a team sport and what is required to win.
The flash and bang will get you so far. But the man loading the gunpowder is just as important.
Galway led at half time by three points, 0-14 to 1-8. They had come through the goal conceded to TJ Reid and thanks to seven Joe Canning points and three massive bombs from Jason Flynn, they looked to be in a good position.
They hunted in packs, they bullied Kilkenny and they hit anything with a stripe on it. Going in at the break they would have felt confident that another 25-30 minutes of such intensity would see the end of their 27 year famine.
But down the hall in the Kilkenny compound, second half-plans were being formulated.
But it was not Brian Cody or Mick Dempsey or Derek Lyng giving a rousing half-time hairdryer treatment.
Instead, as so often under Cody, the desire, the hunger, and the sheer passion was being led from inside. By a man who had eight All-Ireland medals coming into today’s game and was as hungry as ever to make that nine.
Fennelly: Cody stepped out at HT, Jackie Tyrell "roared us on". "This is not what we're based on, you hit each other harder in training"
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) September 6, 2015
People wonder about the hunger and how Kilkenny keep coming back year after year. It’s Cody they say. He’s a savage in training. He is ruthless.
And he is. The man is unstoppable. And now that’s he’s retired as a teacher he’s going full time at the hurling.
Jesus!
But Cody has never won an All-Ireland without the incredible players. Cody has never hit a man at full force and put him back on his arse or sent him spinning over the endline.
Cody has never arced over a point from fifty metres in any of the 11 All-Ireland finals he has now won.
It’s the players, and that is why Kilkenny devoured Galway in the second half.
Jason Flynn and Joe Canning were anonymous with Canning grabbing just a goal – in garbage time – and a point in the second 35.
Michael Fennelly, racked with injury, who may not even have played this year, was a colossus in midfield while Conor Fogarty hit hard and kept coming back for more.
Joey Holden held the square and up front, TJ Reid swapped his magician’s cloak for a hardhat and hopped into the trench along with his teammates.
Galway had no answer to the hunters of the first half now becoming the hunted.
The agony and the ecstasy of All-Ireland final day. pic.twitter.com/Z94MvwsTNi
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 6, 2015
Kilkenny returend to what has won them so many games in the past. You get to your man, hold him up, tackle, use anything legal, and sometimes illegal, and let the referee decide after.
The All-Ireland champions hit hard, Galway’s defence got nothing easy even if they did rob Kilkenny players, and ultimately they were ground into the dust by the relentless black and amber panzer tank that is a Brian Cody side.
Tactics will never beat spirit. They will never beat a man who will put his body on the line to get a breaking ball. And that’s what Kilkenny trusted in.
They believed that if they worked as hard as Galway then they would win, and they did.
Tonight there is not widespread joy in Ireland at Kilkenny winning the All-Ireland compared to the feeling if Galway had.
We mentioned in the build up how low-key this final was and how no-one likes to see the same team win again.
But any sports person needs to admire what took place today in Croke Park. Galway will come again, but a game is not won after 35 minutes. And crucially neither is it lost.
