Throughout Dublin’s dominance, a lot has been said about one player in particular and not all of it has been complimentary.
One thing is for sure though, if Dublin win the All-Ireland and he delivers, he will win Footballer of the Year. And, actually, if he delivers, Dublin will win.
He is of course, Ciaran Kilkenny.
A prodigious talent growing up, Kilkenny was an underage dual star who Dublin fans always touted as the next big thing.
He made a huge splash in his opening season at senior level capturing his first All-Ireland back in 2013. Kilkenny was the future of Dublin football, the man to take over the mantle from Brogan, Connolly, Cluxton etc.
It seemed though for a few seasons that things would not work out as expected for him as a shock defeat to Donegal in the 2014 sent Jim Gavin back to the drawing board.
They returned the following season with a new system, determined that the defeat to Jim McGuinness’ side was a one-off. They still continued to attack, and press up on teams but now it was smarter, more controlled, and the gaping holes Donegal had found in their defence were no longer there.
Alongside this, the introduction of Jason Sherlock brought a clear basketball element to their attack. If teams were going to flood their defensive zones, Dublin had to learn to throw the ball around and work patterns to get through.
Rather than trying to force the play through the blanket, they opted for a more patient approach. They held possession and waited for the opposition to make a mistake, then they would pounce, rather than run into a wall and get swallowed up and turned over. Exactly what teams wanted.
Despite three All-Ireland wins on the trot, the Dubs have, this year, been maligned for their style of play in some sectors and, when that happens, Ciaran Kilkenny has swipes taken at him.
Lateral hand passing, not penetrating defences, the risk-adverse intelligence that Jim Gavin introduced has some people calling Dublin boring.
But Kilkenny probably wouldn’t argue that he has retained possession rather than kick it down the throat of a blanket defence. Over the past few seasons, he hasn’t always gone at defences the way we know he can, and he did have a tendency to move laterally. Our stats from last year’s Leinster semi-final against Westmeath show this.
However, Kilkenny was obviously asked to do that job, and he did it. It wasn’t the job he was most suited to, it certainly wasn’t a job spectators particularly wanted to see him do, but he did it. He did it better than anyone too.
Even with this new system and this new mindset, Ciaran Kilkenny still became the best half-forward in the mordern game.
Busting a gut, tracking back, putting in tackles, and most importantly, keeping the ball. He is the master of retaining possession, and doing that is what makes Dublin so hard to beat.
It wasn’t always pretty but it was mightily effective.
You see, the thing about Kilkenny is that he is one of the smartest footballers around. He is well aware of the abilities he possesses, but he knows when to use it best. Alan Brogan summed it up perfectly earlier this week.
“Kilkenny can play any way once he’s given the space to play but what he’s facing now is a blanket defence and he’s smart enough to know that he can’t go in there and turn over possession and hit on the counter-attack, they’re trying to play around looking for gaps.
“Kilkenny has taken his bit of criticism for that but I wouldn’t put any blame for that on his feet at all he’s as smart as any footballer out there, if he sees the space in front of him he’ll go for the space.
“On the flip side of that if he sees a blanket defence there he’s not going to run the ball there were he risks being turned over, so I think it’s a result of how teams are setting up against Dublin.”
It is funny the difference a year makes.
Here we are, on the eve of another All-Ireland final and Kilkenny enters Croke Park tomorrow looking to win a fifth Celtic Cross.
He goes into the game as the championship’s top scorer from play. Let that sink in for a second.
The man who many shot down because of his perceived inability to go forward has scored more than anyone else from open play. He has notched 2-21 to be exact.
Those trying to dismiss it as the flaws in the Leinster championship need to remember that the majority of his games have been in the All-Ireland series, in the Super 8s and semi-finals and they should also consider that Kilkenny wasn’t near this race last season.
So what is the difference?
Maybe Jim Gavin saw something that others saw when they criticised Kilkenny, maybe he realised he didn’t need such a talent always doing such a slog. Maybe the Castleknock forward decided himself to grab the bull by the horns.
But the change was pretty simple in the end. Dublin developed a game plan around Ciaran Kilkenny, one that gets the absolute best out of his talents.
Kilkenny has started most games for Dublin this year in the half-forward line and ended up alternating between there and the full-forward line.
Instead of hanging around the edge of the ‘D’ acting as a runner and distributor, stretching the opposition defence, the Castleknock man is now the finisher inside.
Kilkenny is expected to remain up the field and only track back when absolutely necessary.
On The GAA Hour, Colm Parkinson was one of Kilkenny’s detractors last year. Like most, he knew Kilkenny had more to offer and wasn’t being utilised properly. Wooly’s views have changed in recent months.
“Now he’s in the full forward line, he’s scoring a lot more. He got 2-16 from play during the Leauge. The lateral passing and the pointing is gone and he seems a much more direct, likeable player.
“That was the critique I had of him last year, when he was getting all of those possessions in games and getting man-of-the-match, I was unimpressed by him, I was like, he’s so much better than what he’s showing.”
To put Kilkenny’s new role into perspective; so far this championship season he has racked up 2-21, with the final still to be played.
His scoring rate has improved considerably compared to recent years. In 2015, Kilkenny scored 0-18 from play.
His score tally for 2016 was quite poor, he scored 0-5 overall. Four of those came against Longford in a Leinster quarter-final win.
Last season, he tallied up 1-9,with this goal against Westmeath in the Leinster semi-final giving us a taste of what the Castleknock man can do when he gets a chance to run at defences.
WATCH this goal scored by @DubGAAOfficial and @CastleknockGAA forward Ciarán Kilkenny from yesterday's @gaaleinster Football Semi-Final pic.twitter.com/PTnr2V6iHd
— The GAA (@officialgaa) June 26, 2017
Throughout Dublin’s unbeaten run in the championship, Kilkenny has scored 1-32. That is only an eight-point difference between his scoring stats this season, compared to the last three seasons combined.
Ciarán Kilkenny – now more of a finisher than a provider says Pat Spillane #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/HFljr5Gq7t
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 24, 2018
Kilkenny isn’t just getting to show off his endurance now, but the speed, skill, ability and superstar talent that we all knew he had, but weren’t always getting to see.
At long last, after six seasons on the panel and four All-Ireland wins, Ciaran Kilkenny’s time to shine has finally arrived.
It sounds like a lot, but you know what makes this all the more remarkable? He’s just turned 25.
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