If there are three certainties in life, then the third one is Kilkenny having a good minor team.
They’re calling it a fallow period for the Cats, who haven’t won a minor All-Ireland since 2014 but if that’s fallow then the rest of Ireland could give it up. That’s because, even though Kilkenny haven’t been as dominant as usual, they’ve made it to two of the last three finals while in Leinster, they’ve won four championships in seven years.
Some drought.
The fourth of those was lifted on Sunday when after a blistering first half performance in MW Hire O’Moore Park, Richie Mulrooney’s side already had the game sewn up. It was a belated version of the 2020 championship and if you were watching the youngsters of Kilkenny, you’d probably have said that they were like lads who were waiting a year for this game.
Zach Bay Hammond from Thomastown certainly looked like he’d been counting down the days as he thundered past Offaly men to set up a Kilkenny attack that, from the word go, had pace, enthusiasm and danger written all over it.
Hammond laid it off to the captain Timmy Clifford and when you watched the corner back gather steam after the pass was given, it was clear as day that this was a team singing off the same hymn sheet. You’d have to credit the Offaly midfielder, who hit Clifford like a bus but the Dicksboro man’s composure and his strength kept the whole thing going. Hammond’s support got his teammate out of a sticky situation but the move would have ended there and then if it wasn’t for Denis Walsh and his flicks and tricks.
The Dunnamaggin player showed his class with a pass that found Clifford for one of the team points of the year. On the sideline, Mulrooney must have been smiling and on the field, the Offaly midfielder must have been wondering how the hell Clifford was still standing.
What an outrageous score from the Kilkenny minors at the weekend 👏pic.twitter.com/q0dijloU0Y
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) July 5, 2021
The Dicksboro player lifted the cup later on in the day and it was after seeing that when you said to yourself that Kilkenny are always there, always thereabouts.
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