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Minute-by-MinuteAs always, we’d like to hear your thoughts so send us your comments on the day’s action. Tweet us@thescore_ie, find us on Facebook, or leave a comment below.
Full-time, Galway 2-21 Kilkenny 2-11:
Welcome to a cold and largely empty Croke Park. Perhaps it says what the expectations are for the day that so few have turned out. The upper tiers are closed as is Hill 16 yet the Canal End is empty, the lower Cusack is half full and the lower Hogan is only slightly better. Could this be the smallest crowd for a Leinster hurling final in memory and should this have been played elsewhere, Tullamore for example?
Kilkenny haven’t lose a provincial game since 2004, are looking to make it 14 out of 15 Leinster crowns and a remarkable eight on the trot. That’s the talent and level of history staring at Galway and their leaky defence here.
Here are the teams as the sides warm-up with 10 to throw in…
Kilkenny: D Herity; P Murphy, N Hickey, J Tyrrell; T Walsh, B Hogan, R Doyle; C Buckley, P Hogan; H Shefflin, TJ Reid, E Larkin, C Fennelly, R Power, R Hogan.
Galway: J Skehill; D Collins, K Hynes, F Moore; N Donoghue, T Regan, J Coen; I Tannian, A Smyth; D Burke, N Burke, C Donnellan; C Cooney, J Canning, D Hayes.
Really bad atmosphere but at least the Artane Band create some noise as the teams line-up for their lap of the pitch. Everyone saying it might as well be a victory lap for Kilkenny and we haven’t even started. If it was anyone else that would sound arrogant, but here it seems like justified confidence. Galway need a really big start and to lay down some markers or we are in for a subdued day.
3 minutes: Galway 1-1 Kilkenny 0-0: We said they needed a good start, well that’s a start to that start if you are with us. David Herity takes a great ball under his crossbar but back come Galway and Niall Burke opens the scoring. Better again, Joe Canning takes a great high ball, Jackie Tyrell nowhere near it. Canning turns and blasts home.
5 minutes: Galway 1-2 Kilkenny 0-0: Goalscorer Canning feeds pointscorer Niall Burke and he clips over his second. The place comes to life suddenly. Canning looks pumped up, he picks that ball up really deep and tries to feed Burke again but he’s bottled up.
10 minutes: Galway 1-2 Kilkenny 0-0: Entire Galway half-back line have started really well, a ball hasn’t got by them yet. They are playing tough and fast and feeding it into the forwards long and accurate. Can they keep it up? Now Canning is back there turning over ball. He’s all over the pitch and Galway are getting seriously physical.
13 minutes: Galway 1-3 Kilkenny 0-0: Henry Shefflin drops a free short, Damien Hayes drops a shot short, David Collins and Fergal Moore pick up where the half-back line left off winning ball. We look to draw breath and finally get a chance as Joe Canning is too quick, is taken out and sticks over a 14-yard free himself.
15 minutes, Galway 1-4 Kilkenny 0-0: Surging run from Andy Smith from deep halted illegally and Canning knocks over another free. Nearly quarter-way into this and Kilkenny haven’t scored. They haven’t even had a wide.
18 minutes, Galway 1-6 Kilkenny 0-0: Surging run from Andy Smith from deep halted illegally and Canning knocks over another free. Over quarter-way into this and Kilkenny haven’t scored. They haven’t even had a wide. There’s another Canning free. Now David Collins points. Brian Cody talks with his selectors and everyone else has a stunned look.
20 minutes, Galway 1-6 Kilkenny 0-1: Finally, just shy of 20 minutes and Henry Shefflin has Kilkenny on the board. Galway need to keep up the intensity because they are worth this lead and more thus far.
23 minutes, Galway 2-8 Kilkenny 0-1: Galway are running from deep and the Kilkenny half-back line cannot cope. They are being taken on with power and pace and are just dragging down men to stop them going by. Lazy foul from Brian Hogan there which Canning converts. This time there’s no foul but Cyril Donnellan has space and scores. The basis for all this is Galway’s defence. Goal. David Burke breaks into space and buries it. This is unbelievable.
25 minutes, Galway 2-8 Kilkenny 0-1: Aidan Fogarty comes on for Colin Fennelly. Odd call as no ball has gone in far enough for Fennelly to get on. It’s nearer to their own goal that Kilkenny are struggling as Richie Hogan wins a free there and Shefflin drives wide. 10 to the break and Galway need to keep kicking on.
28 minutes, Galway 2-9 Kilkenny 0-1: Michael Rice now on for Paddy Hogan who has been cleaned out and taken out on the back foot. It’s a maroon tide washing over them all though as David Burke from a standing start and the touchline flicks an effort that carries right over the bar. Some score. Some performance by his team. Need to keep it going though.
29 minutes, Galway 2-10 Kilkenny 0-1: That’s another great score by Cyril Donnellan, his half-forward line have been lethal. Deadly accurate.
31 minutes, Galway 2-12 Kilkenny 0-2: We aren’t joking. That’s the score. Pick a man of the half for Galway, they are all dominating their battles as moments after Donnellan points from the Hogan Stand side he points from the Cusack Stand side. Kilkenny get one back though through Richie Power but Joe Canning wins the subsequent puck-out and lashes it over from halfway.
33 minutes, Galway 2-12 Kilkenny 0-3: Shefflin with a free and Kilkenny beginning to get a ball or two up front. If it was anyone else we’d say it’s only consolation stuff but a long way to go and Galway know what they are up against.
Half-time, Galway 2-12 Kilkenny 0-4: Another Shefflin free as Kilkenny tip toe their way into this from a long way back. Not surprised Galway’s intensity has dropped in the last three or four minutes, robots couldn’t keep up what they did for half an hour of that. But now they have time to draw breath. Expect a backlash but if Galway play to anywhere near that level in the second half they won’t be caught. How in the name of Brian Cody did that happen? Cracking stuff. We’re off to catch our breaths and be back after the break.
36 minutes, Galway 2-13 Kilkenny 0-4: Back underway and Cyril Donnellan – what an incredible game he is having – points within seconds. A lot of ‘I didn’t see that coming lines’ from bemused faces around the press box. Must be a bit like the Kilkenny management at the moment.
39 minutes, Galway 2-13 Kilkenny 0-5: Shefflin takes a sensible point from a 21-yard free, anyone else might have taken a goal. Fourteen points down and their crowd call for a comeback.
45 minutes, Galway 2-13 Kilkenny 1-6: Here they come? Aidan Fogarty gets the ball 30 out and pitches it over. Kilkenny have brought the hunger they forgot in the first half to this half. Long way back though, but a lot of time still on the clock too. And now a goal. Richie Hogan.
46 minutes, Galway 2-15 Kilkenny 1-6: Brilliant point from David Burke as he looked to have lost control of the sliothar but bats it out of midair and over the bar. That was needed for Galway. And now a Joe Canning free. Gutsy response that screams this will be their day.
48 minutes, Galway 2-16 Kilkenny 1-6: Fantastic by Canning from close to the touchline into an empty Hill 16. They’ve put out the fire with those three scores and Kilkenny as far back as ever.
50 minutes, Galway 2-17 Kilkenny 2-7: Now they are not. Richie Hogan hopefully fires a high ball into the square. Shefflin gets to the front of the queue and bats into an empy net as James Skehill had come to collect but didn’t get near it. Back come Galway through Damien Hayes but Shefflin cancels that out with a free. When has an 10-point game been this exciting and this tense?
54 minutes, Galway 2-17 Kilkenny 2-9: Shefflin won’t let this get away as he hauls Kilkenny ever closer. Jonathan Glynn on for Conor Cooney for Galway who had an extra man back sweeping in the first half and that was key. Kilkenny making sure it’s man-to-man this half though as they win another free and Shefflin flicks it between the posts.
57 minutes, Galway 2-19 Kilkenny 2-9: The diagonal ball into the forwards still working for Galway as it buys Joe Canning space and he doesn’t miss. He is tormenting Paul Murphy and now wins a free off him. James Regan comes on for Iarla Tannion as Canning puts over the simple free. Another gutsy response from the Connacht side. Matthew Ruth on for TJ Reid for Kilkenny.
59 minutes, Galway 2-19 Kilkenny 2-10: Richie Power gets Kilkenny back to a single-figure deficit – we’ve never written that before – but time is ticking and they need to notch up a few more while containing Canning in particular.
61 minutes, Galway 2-19 Kilkenny 2-10: Tadhg Haran on for Niall Burke who winks at the bench as he takes off his helmet. I’d give it another few minutes personally but he’s earned it with a particularly brilliant first half.
64 minutes, Galway 2-19 Kilkenny 2-11: Aidan Fogarty wins the free, Shefflin converts but a goal surely needed. If not two!
67 minutes, Galway 2-19 Kilkenny 2-11: Cyril Donnellan continues to threaten, Joe Canning continues to roast Paul Murphy (why he’s been left on him so long is odd) but most importantly time continues to tick down.
Sad to see the jobs go but associating the name ‘Fastnet line’ with this service was a bit much. It took 11 and a half hours to get to Wales. You’d be quicker windsurfing.
its named after the fastnet rock just off baltimore in west cork…
The one it goes nowhere near?
its what they named it after and that is a fact go take up the issue with owners.
@ Tony Stanley, I have never been on a ship where the main engines constantly ran unless the vessel is departing soon after arrival. Diesel Generators power the vessel in port.
Heavy fuel oil is only used for propulsion on long voyages when the vessel is finished manoeuvring and clear of land.
A skeleton crew has to stay onboard for safety reasons and they are entitled to electricity like the rest of us.
Now the company has folded the vessel can be off hired and sent back to owners or sold, I hope the crew get any wages they are owed, if you want to pay more for goods imported to this island keep pushing for a carbon tax on ships!
Yes carbon tax on ships , push up the cost of exporting , make us even more uncompetitive and throw what few jobs we have left to the four winds , great idea , sounds like one worthy of Fianna Fail in its heyday.
Sad to see it go ….
Where are Leo Varadkars commits today! He hasn’t been in the news for 17 hours and I miss his fat face.
Comments not commits!
Pity. Though I never used it myself.
So it’s somehow a bad thing that I never used the service then…?! God help us.
I’m sorry to see it go, another dozen or so Cork families in despair today. It was too expensive for the average family though, they could go to France on Brittany Ferries for in and about the same money.
What will happen the Julia? That ship is docked in the city center, all engines running. If they stop the engines, it seizes up I believe, but who pays for the diesel and manpower to keep it going?
i dont think thats true at all
Which part? I can see it is parked there with my own eyes. I can hear the engines turning over. It is manned, and it would be normal enough for large engines to seize when they stop.
Maybe you know more than I do, please, elaborate.
its normal enough for large engines to seize when they stop? what are you talking about…so every ship and large ferry in the world is constantly burning fuel…that is just not true at all…the julia has its auxilery engines running while people are on board as these much smaller engines provide the lights and all that on board.
Are you a marine engineer on the sly ;)… I thought large diesel engines prefer to run long and steady, Very long time since I did mechanics though, things must have changed. :)
Are people living on it so, that they are still running them?
The question still is though, what will be done with a big fat ship docked in cork city center.
P’s right ya know!
An auxiliary power unit operates to keep power levels up on the ship but this is powered by the diesel onboard, in most ships of this nature the engines are placed in a low idle power mode with the engines to prevent them from stopping altogether! The props may not be turning but thing are still in action to prevent mechanism from seizing up and to keep things greased! This is one of the reasons the shipping industry is one of the highest pollutants in the world (despite never getting even a fraction of the green taxes that air travellers suffer from despite aviation only contributing a fraction of the greenhouse gases that ships do) and why you almost always see smoke coming out of the funnels of stationary ships in harbours!!!!!
@Tony Not to mention the bunker fuel used is just a step up from burning bitumen.
Thanks Tony! I was just looking up the Julia. The ship is 30 years old, engines are bound to be ancient and inefficient at this stage, and probably need a bit of nursing.
I am sure they have to pay port taxes while it is berthed in the docks in Cork.
The engines were changed in the past 18 months, so should be effecient. Hope they manage to sell it to pay off their debts. @P Wurple Having watched your posts over a few months I notice your pouncing on anyone that may have a differing option to you. Belittling people like asking them are they Marine Engineers, give people an inch, it’ll make their experience on here a biymt better and hopefully they will come back and be regular contributors!!
Michael, I am direct, always have been. Maybe it comes across as harsh on the internet. I was not being sarcastic or belittling to anonymous, there are buckets of merchant navy, navy and marine engineers in cork, this is where the college is, why would he not be one? I will take anyones direct experience or knowledge over my own measley hunch. I even stuck in a friendly smiley. :)
Plus, I was the one being jumped on, not the other way around.
Correct, you are direct and I feel you are harsh on people also, that’s what I was highlighting. I also know where the Maritime College is, as I live here in Cork. I’ve said my bit and was honest about it. Take my advice, chuck it aside, but I had the balls to say it to you, with respect!
The sad fact is that with upgrades, bypasses and new bridges the road from Cork to Rosslare makes the Rosslare – Fishguard route quicker and cheaper than the Julia.
Well, it does, but when your business plan was thought up over night, you buy the wrong ferry, you upset your main income from the start, and the service is shoddy, you can not expect a enterprise like this to last in the modern era.
Was very handy when I was moving over and back from London ….. It used to go from Cork late evening so you could go to the bar and have a nice few pints, get a berth and get the hard down and then 3 hrs on the M4 and your in London ….. Shame
sad indeed, we’ll miss the Julia.
you wha now?
Where’s the Minister for Tourism and Trade ??
what a shame used it several years ago
“Head down” …… Apologies
Was not viable. Management were inept. Cork CC should not have gotten involved. Embarrassing.
Travelled on it once last year returning from Wales. Had travelled over from Rosslare and returned via Swansea -Cork. No facilities at either end (buses / train links) for foot passengers. The Welsh taxi driver said it made no difference to the taxi business as so few travelled (apart from Volcanic Ash Cloud week). The boat itself was dirty, smelly and hadn’t one bit of information about Ireland, never mind the SW. Were so few passengers (~25) & cars (max 20) on board that week (the week before Whit) I’m not surprised at this. Plus, I saw somewhere that the business plan for recovery projected growth based on passenger / freight capacity that the boat physically couldn’t take anyway.
Poor service and abysmal planning can’t be made workable simply because the idea might be nice.
fair point William. if it wasn’t for aeroplanes this 1920s business plan may actually have worked!
This service was never going to work, due to bad management from day one. It’s a shame, the amount of money that has been wasted, and maybe the chance of ever getting a boat back again, due to this.
The Swansea Cork route is now probably dead, and no hope of bringing extra tourist into the W Cork/S Kerry region, which was the main intention of the boat, but unfortunately, didn’t happen
A great shame, and we’ll miss it.
It was obvious to anyone with a brain it was never gonna work out unfortunately. Better off if the money was invested in marketing or even the hotel in Beara could have been finished off. The tourists are in killarney and kerry, it’s just a matter of getting them to travel further south and promote in international media also. Why not market a drive from killarney right down around west cork, back through cork city and fly out from there again. It could work in both directions. Flights and car hire are so cheap now and all the B&B’s and hotels will get on board with it too. But instead all that money was wasted on an ancient ship that was probably fit to be scrapped when they bought it. Swansea to cork over 10-12 hours like. How was that ever going to compete with airports from all over the world.
Not enough demand, hence no supply
It’s a wonder someone has blamed Michael O’Leary.
s**te…hasn’t
Sorry to see this ferry service end — many a good memory travelling to & from uk & sleeping over …..
Whilst sad for those who have lost their jobs, the notion a ferry service taking 12 hours across the Irish sea was ever going to be viable is just complete nonsense. The BS coming from local interest politicians on the news this evening was predictable nonsense. This service brought nothing either to the cork / kerry economy nor for that matter swansea’s were i worked for 12 months. The greatest mystery I and numerous others could not work out was were all these supposed vast numbers of visitors were going, certainly not swansea. The freight business was also too small as the ferry could not handle the loads of ferry’s used by Sea Link and the dreadful Irish (every nationality) ferries. Its not a surprise that all county councils, government agencies and especially tourism bodies both in Ireland and wales ran a mile when this company came looking for funds. Sad to say today’s decision was inevitable.
If there are similar losses at both termini it should be cost neutral on both local economies.
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