Leinster SHC Round 2: Kilkenny 5-21 Wexford 1-16
It would be an exaggeration to say that the stakes were high on Saturday evening. Kilkenny, having been wiped by Galway for the second time in six weeks, had to win if they hoped to be still involved when the Leinster championship ends.
They achieved that minimal target in a harmless contest, which belied Wexford’s recent competitiveness in the fixture, winning by 17 points.
A glorious sunny evening in UPMC Nowlan Park might have awakened the 13,576 crowd’s memories of the sun-splashed history between the counties but what played out was almost a parody of those great occasions.
History didn’t draw an entire blank and with the last score of the day, TJ Reid pointed a straightforward free to become the highest championship scorer of all time with 41-657 moving him ahead of Cork’s now retired Patrick Horgan. The veteran had endured a frustrating day but finished with 1-8 to break the record.
The immediate contest was more mundane and although there was just a four-point margin at half-time, 1-11 to 1-7, Kilkenny ultimately won as they wished, firing in four second-half goals to crush the visitors and the contest with them.
If there was a turning point, it was in the 43rd minute when Wexford squandered a chance to reduce the margin to two, 1-12 to 1-10 and moments later, TJ Reid had lofted in a lineball, which the defence failed to clear and it broke in the square for Liam Moore to dive in and flick an outstretched hurl, which put the ball in the net.
You could sense Wexford’s tenuous self-belief beginning to smoulder before going up in smoke.
Kilkenny’s quest to add a seventh successive Leinster title still hangs over them more like a curse than a blessing of potential improvement. Their competitive jousts in the past two All-Ireland semi-finals against eventual champions have functioned more as reminders that as the last survivors of their great teams are assumed into retirement, they are getting no closer to regaining their growingly distant imperium.
Kilkenny’s Cian Kenny celebrates scoring their third goal. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
The half-time scoreline did not reflect Kilkenny’s superiority even if it underlined their insecurities, which prevented them putting up a bigger score. A sequence of wides in the early stages mocked their possession count and when Martin Keoghan put his head down before half-time and drilled in the opening goal.
Yet, that damage was mitigated almost immediately when a great steal by Conor Hearne enabled Kevin Foley to run in and shoot a goal for Wexford.
The problem for the visitors was that the weapons they had used to thwart Kilkenny in three of the previous four Leinster round-robin meetings were largely decommissioned.
Primarily, Lee Chin’s presence was muted and if it is not really fair to saddle one player with the responsibility, the bare facts were that Wexford needed another outsize displayed from the Harriers man to have a fighting chance.
All-Star full back Huw Lawlor isn’t available to Kilkenny this year and in his place Mikey Carey had an excellent match, disrupting ball into the full forward, who had started promisingly by snapping up a ball and shooting the first point within 19 seconds.
It was the high point, as Chin struggled with his touch when the ball ran for him and found it hard to shake off Carey. Kilkenny’s backs were well on top and ran the ball intelligently out from the back but the accuracy wasn’t there at the other end.
Mark Fanning, the Wexford goalkeeper, who also has an honourable record in these meetings started nervously and landed a couple of short puck-outs into enemy hands. He also sustained a nasty knock in the second half, leading to seven declared minutes of injury-time.
There were sporadic signs of life when the visitors made space to land some points but the half-time lifeline was more to do with Kilkenny’s shortcomings.
Illness forced the late withdrawal of Kilkenny goalkeeper Aidan Tallis, but the multi-decorated Eoin Murphy was an ideal replacement.
Once the second goal went in, the result wasn’t really in doubt and for good measure Cian Kenny added a third, garlanding his redeployment as centre forward with 1-3 for the evening, having been assisted by Tom Phelan, who had a strong showing on the wing.
There will be disappointment that Eoin Cody didn’t score at all but it didn’t stunt Kilkenny’s productivity on this occasion. Martin Keoghan scored a second goal and the fifth fell for Reid in the eighth minute of injury-time. That and his late point gave him the record, a fitting distinction for one of the best forwards the game has seen.
Kilkenny: E Murphy; M Butler, M Carey, I Bolger; D Blanchfield (0-1), D Corcoran, P Deegan (0-1); K Doyle (0-1), J Molloy (0-1); L Moore (1-0), C Kenny (1-3), T Phelan (0-2); M Keoghan (2-3), TJ Reid (capt; 1-8, 6f, 2 65s), E Cody.
Subs: S Donnelly for Phelan (56 mins), T Clifford for Doyle (62 mins), S Murphy for Bolger (71 mins), R Reid for Kenny (72 mins), G Dunne for Keoghan (76 mins).
Wexford: M Fanning; D Carley, L Ryan, C Foley; D Reck (0-1), R Lawlor, S Reck; D O’Leary, C Hearne (0-1); R Banville, S Roche (0-1), J O’Connor (capt); K Foley (1-0), L Chin (0-4, 2f), J Redmond.
Subs: C Byrne for O’Connor (39 mins), S Rowley for Roche (51mins), D Clarke for Ryan (57 mins), J Byrne for O’Leary (59 mins), T Kinsella for Redmond (75 mins).
Referee: J Murphy (Limerick).