That Munster Final was killer stuff. A good hard physical game, it spilled over once or twice but nothing that warranted either team losing a player just good fast skilful hurling. The limerick goal was brilliantly taken, the flick over the defenders head was magic.
The Leinster Final was a different kind of game, Kilkenny doing what they always do. Attrition and grind along with some great scores. I don’t fancy them for the All Ireland but you can never write them off... ever.....
The handshake business is just another RTE GAA thing, every single year I can recall for 35+ years, there’s always a few incidents from Hurling or Football that claim headlines and make a few stories each summer, it’s a bit of craic, just taken somewhat serious by a few and laughed at by the rest.
The relationship of both Coady & Shefflin as Manager/ Player and now opposing managers was great TV though for the day... Coady sees Shefflin as a traitor for the 2 hours/days around a game. You could see it in his eyes when they shook hands after last months game, yesterday he left him waiting, a loser, while he the victor soaked up the win. Coady is a tough tough bastard, he’s a nice man but he has a serious presence about him and he is ruthless with his hurling. I saw a few Kilkenny training sessions over the years and the whistle only blows to end the session, it’s raw and tough stuff, right on the line of what it takes to win. Coady is just ruthless and more so with certain opponents, he had them already beaten in that handshake with Shefflin a month ago. It might have shocked Henry how Coady looked at him, it didn’t shock the rest of us.
