Kilkenny took All-Irelands for granted, says Carter

Former Kilkenny hurling captain Charlie Carter says the Cats' supporters started to take All-Ireland success for granted under manager Brian Cody.

Carter, who won three Liam MacCarthy Cups in a 13-year inter-county career between 1990 and 2003, says the mood in the Kilkenny camp seemed strangely flat after their 2015 win over Galway.

The 1-22 to 1-18 victory, Kilkenny's fourth title in five years and 11th under Cody in 17 years, was celebrated in front of largely empty stands as the Cats' supporters left soon after the trophy presentation.

"I'll be honest, while it was great and all in the last 20 years, maybe in the last four or five years it was becoming a little bit draining in some ways, that we weren't getting the satisfaction that we should have been getting from winning," he said.

"I felt, personally, that the 2015 All-Ireland win over Galway, that winning an All-Ireland should be a euphoric occasion and it wasn't as euphoric as it should have been."

Kilkenny exited the All-Ireland hurling championship this summer before the quarter-final stage for the first time since 1996, losing to Wexford and Waterford in the qualifiers.

Cody has been criticised in some quarters for failing to integrate minor and Under-21 talent during the team's glory years, but Carter insists that Kilkenny have the talent and resilience to claim another All-Ireland title in the coming years.

"So if we get back again and bring another team through we'll get that euphoric feeling again. And it will happen, I've no doubt about it. It just might take a couple of years to get going again," He continued.

Newly-appointed Under-21 coach DJ Carey, a club-mate of Carter's at Young Ireland, will sit down with Cody this week to discuss integrating a uniform style of play across the county's coaching structures.

"We in Kilkenny have had a great time and it's been brilliant," the five-time All-Ireland winner and current IT Carlow manager told RTE Sport.

"But there is a slight fall-off there because we think, 'oh, we don't need to do a sweeper system, we don't need to do this, we don't need to do that, we're Kilkenny, we're traditional'.

"But, you know what, I'm involved in the Fitzgibbon Cup the last four or five years and the game is changing. And we have to go with the change, not necessarily the whole change, but we have to go with it. And players have to buy into that.

"And from my point of view, hopefully I'll sit down with Brian in the next week and we'll talk about it.

"Because we need to know what way our minor team should be playing, we need to know what way our Under-21 team should be playing so that we're prepared to play senior."

Missing the Championship already? eir Sport will broadcast up to 30 games from the GAA Football and Hurling Club Championships in 2017. Coverage continues on Saturday, 14 October on eir Sport 2 with the Dublin club football championship semi-finals between Ballymun Kickhams and Kilmacud Crokes [throw-in 5pm] and reigning Dublin champions St Vincent's and St Jude's [throw-in 6.45pm] from Parnell Park. Earlier on Saturday, the Meath Football Club Championship semi-final between Simonstown Gaels and Wolfe Tones at Pairc Tailtean will be shown live on eir Sport 2 [throw in 3pm].

Image: Inpho/ Ryan Byrne

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