Kilkenny men get big dose of their own medicine in Salthill

THERE is a line from The Dark Knight Rises – the final instalment in Christopher Nolan’s epic trilogy – where Christian Bale’s Batman light-heartedly utters ‘so that’s what it feels like?’

In a rooftop scene, Batman, who has been distracted for a moment, turns around to find Catwoman has disappeared – abruptly ending their conversation and leaving him hanging in the very same manner he had done on so many occasions to others in the previous two films.

Having played the leading role for so long, Kilkenny must have felt a little like that when the final whistle was sounded on their eight-point Leinster round robin defeat to Galway. Surely, they sensed the irony. For at Pearse Stadium on Sunday, the Tribesmen did to Kilkenny what Brian Cody’s men have done to so many others in the past.

Some may articulate when captain David Burke hoisted the Liam McCarthy Cup aloft on that unforgettable afternoon last September that the county had finally arrived – and you couldn’t argue with such an assertion – but, in terms of creating a legacy, this impressive victory over Kilkenny was equally as important.

The way the All-Ireland champions dismantled the kingpins of the game in the final 10 minutes of this entertaining and absorbing Leinster championship match underlined just how far this Galway side has matured under Micheal Donoghue. For a number of reasons.

There has been a train of thought as to if Galway would be hungry enough to push on in pursuit of further glory in 2018? Their National League campaign had done little to cultivate any degree of confidence in this regard but the true barometer was always likely to be last Sunday’s showdown against the Cats once the fixture was made.

Were Galway hungry? Ravenously so. Then again, they are in a different place these days and this certainly was demonstrated at Pearse Stadium in front of a crowd of 18,775. How many times have we seen the Tribesmen show Kilkenny too much respect – and paid the price – but, on this occasion, they demanded that the kings now bend the knee. Unwillingly, they did.

Only those inside the camp can testify as to what messages the management were driving home in the run-in to this fixture but one had to be the importance of leaving no doubt as to who owns this moment in time. If the Galway players want to rule this present era, they could leave no doubt. They had to – had to – take down, arguably, their greatest nemesis.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.