Kilkenny kicked of their Leinster Championship campaign with a 1-24 to 3-16 win over Dublin in Parnell thanks to a last minute Liam Blanchfield goal completing the comeback from the Cats that saw them overturn a five points deficit with just five minutes remaining.
Offaly legend Daithi Regan joined OTB this evening to run through the weekend's hurling, and the felt that the unlikely final scoreline, with Kilkenny having entered as heavy favourites, was down to the high level of intensity the Dubs brought from the first throw-in, though it wasn't enough to overcome the experience that the Kilkenny side could draw on to grind out the win.
"Dublin played yesterday with an intensity, a Championship intensity that I think probably took Kilkenny by surprise. It probably showed up some of the frailties in Kilkenny that have been there for a couple of years.
"Brian Cody acknowledged that you can't buy experience. You can't put a jersey on a guy and expect him to play mentally and physically with the demands that top class hurlers can meet. Again it was Eoin Murphy that was superb from long range frees for them. TJ Reid was held to a point, Walter Walsh was held to two points, but yet all the time you felt that this name was never going away from them".
Regan believes that Kilkenny will add to their first win next weekend against Offaly, but raised concerns over some of the players in Cody's squad who have yet to prove if they're up to the task of wearing the Kilkenny jersey.
"They've got over the first hurdle, and they'll win next week against Offaly, and that'll set them up nicely going into the rest of it, but there are still questions over some of the Kilkenny players. Not over their talent, but over their fiber and their morale compass when they pull on a Kilkenny jersey. Are they the type of individuals that Brian Cody demands his team is made up of, and that'll be answered pretty soon for us".
The former All-Ireland champion doesn't believe that the next round of fixtures has been as favourable to Dublin, with Pat Gilroy's side having to travel to Wexford Park, espeically as they'll have to pick themselves up from throwing away what would have been a vital win over Kilkenny.
"I just think that Dublin having to go to Wexford is a really bad one for them to be honest. Then it doubles the exasperation from Pat Gilroy, because he believes phenomenally that they lost an outrageous chance yesterday to get two points on the board, because going to Wexford Park is going to be really, really difficult and if they lose it'll be forgotten about how well they performed against Kilkenny. All of a sudden then it's coming down between them and Offaly in the kind of qualifier down to the lower level. That's not what they had in mind, so how they lift themselves is going to be critical".
On the topic of how exactly Dublin managed to lose a game they led for large parts, Regan placed a lot of the blame at the missed opportunities the side recorded in the first half, something that sides like Dublin can't afford if they're to challenge the likes of Kilkenny in the big games.
"Dublin did have their opportunities, and invariably when you're trying to beat the likes of Kilkenny you must convert 85-90% of your chances. Now that's a very high rate because you're up against defenders that are going to be putting you under a lot of pressure, but that's what you've got to do because that's how you make the breakthrough, it's how counties make the breakthrough.
"On a given day we historically can look at teams who put it up to big sides but 95% of the time they won't get over the line. It's the day that you hit everything, it's the day that it goes well, the day that 13 out of 15 will play above themselves, it's the day your conversion rate will shoot the lights out. Dublin didn't come up very short yesterday, they nearly got over the line, but seven wides is a lot in the first half".
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