Anyone who stood in Croke Park on September 6th will remember the profound sense of anticlimax that swept the ground two minutes after James Owens blew the final whistle. With all due deference to Kilkenny, all neutrals had pined for a Galway breakthrough. As the Kilkenny people evacuated the stadium during the lap of honour to beat the traffic home, the only solace for the neutral was the thought of 'next year'.
Here we are 10 weeks later and without a ball being pucked, the 2016 Championship seems already decided. Who is the hell is going to put up anything like a challenge to Kilkenny next summer?
Galway, always reliable to follow a good year with a shocking one, have been distracted by a petty, pointless war with Anthony Cunningham. I admit Galway have many reasons to move on from Cunningham but they have alienated themselves from the county board and many of their own supporters by sticking to their principles with this feud. The glory days of last summer, like the All-Ireland semifinal win against Tipp, feel about 40 years ago.
Tipp, the only really serious contender to Kilkenny since 2009, have had a choreographed retirement strategy this week with James Woodlock, Shane McGrath and Larry Corbett shuffling off on consecutive days. That's three men who started the 2014 All-Ireland final. That abovementioned loss to Galway now feels like the final act of a great team that shipped many memorable losses to Kilkenny, and of course, enjoyed one famous win.
And then there is Clare, who have won a single championship game in two years. Rather than sack Davy Fitz, they've turned to Donal Og Cusack to be a sort of assistant/Davy whisperer. It could work. Or it could go spectacularly wrong. Clare's All-Ireland win in 2013 gets softer by the day.
Waterford will be better, but are probably a few years away. Limerick are a few more years away. We predict Cork won't contend again until the strike generation are given the keys to the castle.
And so, Kilkenny. Again. It sucks but you have to respect it.
