Just back from the game, well I went for grub and a pint as well, overall I'm neither devastated nor delighted. We showed plenty of fight and I would say we broke even on the rucks, which is an area Kilkenny have always beaten us in. There were two slips, one in each half, where there was a sniff of a goal chance. Other than those, we never looked like getting a goal. That is very worrying.
Collins is some shot stopper, but his distribution is awful. I think he has no confidence that anyone will win a long puck out and that makes him unsure of what he's doing. That doesn't forgive anything, but I think it explains some.
Joyce does not convince me at 6, but that's what we've got. It's fairly shocking that the best players at underage tend to be put at centre back, yet we haven't developed a decent one since Curran. What does that say about our development? Nothing that hasn't been said before, I suppose.
I've been critical of Rob Downey in the past, but he was superb today. Delighted for him.
Tommy played well and I think he's a future star.
The midfielders worked hard but were second best. Twomey was very quiet in the second half.
Lehane, Kingston and O'Connor were all disappointing from play, although at least Kingston hit his frees. Barrett was probably the pick of the forwards, and Power did well also.
I thought Kilkenny got some easy frees today, I don't know if they'd get all of them in the championship. I don't know what we're going to do about the combination of wasted possession and poor ball winning. Our general appetite for a battle has improved massively, some of the usual failings are still well and truly there. I thought after the red card and Hoggy coming on that their backs were going to have it all their own way in possession, but that wasn't the way at all, and that did impress me.
