Gutting to lose by a point in the end but given the awful first 20-25 mins I'm glad it worked out that way. Had Kilkenny got a goal when it was 0-13 0-6 it could have an absolute filleting at home to our historic rivals. It would have been the worst.
When you change the team up and bring in lots of new players you have to give them time to settle, that does account for a portion of the crap start. We had the usual over-ellaboration tippy tappy stuff as well here and there to add more bitterness to the first half. But then just as I find myself saying 'puck it down the field to fuck' they pull off a sublime series of passes and they get a score out of it!
Tim O'Mahony in a way typifies what the people who want big physical passionate hurlers want. I love him, he's got a great engine and he's well up for mixing it too so he gets the crowd and team roaring. But then you get the silly frees and the moments of madness. His shooting is ok but shot selection iffy at times from distance. It's very difficult to have it both ways, if you want a big physical player like that you have to take the good with the bad. I'd have him in the team everyday and if you have Mark Coleman and Joyce around him with their skill levels it balances it for us.
I nearly lost my fucking life shouting when Kingston failed to control the ball there at the end. Contrary to what some people said a few pages back he was able to rise the ball with his hurley, he just didn't catch it. That's his brain getting ahead of his hand, he was thinking too much about what he'd do once he had the ball in his hand. I'd say he was probably in two minds about whether to take the point to draw the game or go for the goal.....his instinct is the latter but his confidence would be down because of the earlier misses. In the end he's thinking too far ahead....and it all falls apart.
Same with Hoggie's misses....we could have won it. The free when Pat Ryan spoke to him just beforehand. Fuck sake!
You have to look at the postives though. Mainly, the fact that we came from so far behind and showed a bit of passion. Tommy O'Connell was great, he was everywhere at times. Was delighted to see Mark Coleman back and he looks sharp as ever. Twomey was good and a real handful for the Kilkenny backs. Lehane is what we always think collectively. Toggling between genius and frustrating. That point towards the end when he ran down the touchline on the north stand was beautiful.
In summary, frustrating we didn't win or draw it but losing by a point to the team that only lost the AI to Limerick by a point isn't too bad in February.
We need to go and smash Waterford now to get the tails up.
#PrayForRobbie
