Cork hurling boss Denis Walsh was pleased for his players as they earned their first win over Kilkenny in six years on Sunday.
Not since the All-Ireland final of 2004 had Cork downed their old rivals. However, they bagged a 0-18 to 1-13 success over Brian Cody’s men at Pairc Ui Chaoimh to maintain a one hundred percent record in this season’s NHL Division 1 campaign, albeit against a Kilkenny side missing many big names and one who played half the game with 14 men after Michael Grace was sent off.
Having been obliterated by the same opposition a year ago, not long after their senior players had returned from their stayaway, this was a win that Cork will savour whatever fifteen they faced and afterwards Walsh paid tribute to his players who he said gave that little bit extra late on to ensure their win.
"Look at the facts, there was only seven of today's 15 that started last year,” Walsh was quoted as saying by the Irish Independent.
“From a Cork hurling point of view I'm sure their pride . . . these guys have been together a long time and the fellas we have brought in have blended in very well.
"I left it to themselves from that point of view. I think we got our answer there today. They wanted to win the game in the last quarter of an hour. It was there to be won and we could have easily left it behind us too. But they gave the answer."
Kilkenny boss Brian Cody admitted the result was a blow, but was not too downbeat as some of his lesser known names – such as forward John Mulhall – did very well against a strong Cork line-up.
"We wanted to win the game,” he said. “We needed to win the game to stay in the league realistically.
"There were a lot of good things from our point of view. It was a very genuine performance. We were disappointed to lose, as ever, but we were reasonably happy with the performance."