On The Line: Donal Óg Cusack on Hurling

You could push Dr. Bruce Banner. You could push him but not too far. Eventually he'd turn green and burst the seams of his good shirt and become the Incredible Hulk. You could pin Muhammad Ali down but not forever. When Foreman had Ali on the ropes during the Rumble in the Jungle, when he was pounding away at Ali's pretty face for five rounds or so he must have wondered if he wasn't pushing him too far. Sure enough. Ali did the business.

The moral is that you have to kill the Incredible Hulk when you have the chance. You have to deck Muhammad Ali when you get your opening. Galway had the chance. They didn't have the weapons. Or the luck.

This summer they did so much right. They hammered Kilkenny in the Leinster final even if the second half of that game provided a bit of a warning. They did enough to win the All Ireland final early in September even if the second half was once again a bit worrying.

Also they got under Brian Cody's skin. Made him go man to man. Made his team look a bit worried. Galway poked and provoked Kilkenny. Eventually when Kilkenny woke up, Kilkenny went hulk. Kilkenny crushed them.

In hindsight that seems predictable but really it wasn't. Eventually the day will come when Kilkenny give up the ghost. Before then there will be many days when we expect them to pass away but they'll roll on. And every time we'll say that we should have known they'd survive to ride off into the amber and black sunset in the final reel. That's what they do.

When will it end? Well we've had a great summer of Olympic sport. In our sport Kilkenny are the embodiment of what the Olympics tries to be. Higher. Faster. Stronger. They have nine All Irelands now in the Cody era but all they want is to be Higher. Faster. Stronger. That's the secret of their hunger. We all measure ourselves against them. They measure themselves against the best they can possibly be. We're looking for results. They're looking for perfection. They don't just want to be better than we are. They want to be better than they are. Better than anybody has ever been. Better than anybody can ever be.

That's inspiring. We're all wondering when they'll come back to our standard, when will age or fatigue bring them back down to our level? Kilkenny are wondering how they can get more out of themselves, how they can bring the game to levels not dreamed of.

The best thing we can do is go with them. There was a lot of silly talk in the week before this All-Ireland about Joe Canning and Henry Shefflin being rivals. It was as unfair on Joe as was the taking out of context of his use of the word unsportsmanlike. Joe is 23, brilliant but still learning his trade. This year he presented himself for duty visibly fitter than he has ever been. He is learning. But Henry is 33, has nine All Irelands and is the best there has been. The best I have seen anyway. What rivalry?

When we talk about going with Kilkenny to the levels of excellence they are exploring none of us can be happy with our effort. It takes incredible commitment. It takes the sort of commitment that you equate with love. You have to love the game immensely and unconditionally to do what Kilkenny do. Very few players can claim to match that. Very few counties can. I was with Henry Shefflin for a few days in America at the end of last year. I watched how he held himself and how he lived and ate for those few days. The only comparison I have seen to that behaviour is Seán Óg. Henry is fitter today, more of an instrument of hurling today then he was 10 years ago or five years ago.

He is the perfect example for every young player. He doesn't practice and live his life the way he does because he is Henry Shefflin. He is Henry Shefflin BECAUSE he does those things. And doesn't stop. He drives on. This is a fella who says himself that he got on his school team because they needed a big old arse around the square. Who squeezed onto a Kilkenny intermediate team who were short of players. He got a break when he was spotted playing for them. We call him the king but he wasn't born into his kingdom. He earned it. And still does every day.

Shefflin is what every other county player and county panel has to look to over the next few years. In too many places there are too many players who think they have arrived when they make the county panel and get the tracksuit and the gear bag. They get the nod from the doorman in some nightclub or any of the other places that act as Ellis Island for C list celebrities and they are content with their lot. They've arrived in their new world.

Henry Shefflin has nine All Ireland medals and I doubt if he spends many evenings gazing at them, polishing them or putting them in order. The true satisfaction in sport is being the best you can be, pushing the limits of your potential as a player and as a team. Higher. Faster. Stronger. All the way.

Henry represents that element of Kilkenny's thinking but Cody enforces it and draws it out of the others. That's the challenge for the rest of us. Not many counties can say that this summer they made big strides towards where Kilkenny are. How many counties have a vision of where they want to go which is needed to draw the right dedication from their players or bring through players with that dedication?

Galway took steps. The challenge for them now is how they react to Sunday's defeat. The loss should be just part of the process, part of their journey. What will be interesting will be how soon they pick it up again and with what intensity. I believe that for a serious county hurler the year is eleven months long. You don't start training out of shape and spend four or five weeks with your teammates getting some kind of fitness back. You come to county training ready for war.

Anthony Cunningham will know that sometimes as a county manager your first year is your best. I would imagine that he has enough brains and enough respect from his panel to make next year just as good but that panel needs to give more than respect. They need to push on and give more than they gave this year. They need to learn the lessons.

On two Sundays in September against Kilkenny they were found short of forwards. Not that you could knock any of their starters as players. Just that the first day Joe Canning and Niall Burke were the only two to score from play at all. And in the replay only Canning got points from play. A lot of their good forwards from the last few years have been recycled as midfielders (you can count Damien Hayes in there) and a few have been put out for pasture but somehow they need to find a few more assassins.

And they need a little luck. Or experience. Joe Canning was hobbled but it was worth playing him. In retrospect though Galway probably feel playing James Skehill on Sunday was a mistake. They probably knew that beforehand. A goalie who dislocated his shoulder on Friday isn't going to be at his best on Sunday afternoon. Galway may have thought it was reassuring for the other players to start Skehill but nobody was reassured when he kicked the first loose ball rather than risk contact on the left shoulder. It was a great trial for him personally to do what he did at all in the first half. His replacement Fergal Flannery was good and brave. You live and learn. Easy to talk after in a column like this.

That goal and the few minutes that came after it showed the difference between the mindset of the two teams. Galway had just scored two goals in a little over a minute. It was time to kick on and do some damage. Instead they conceded 1-6 without reply. You can only poke so much before the Hulk appears. Ali always comes off the ropes.

That's what Kilkenny's years of experience have given them. For the first time in their three games against Galway this year, they quit worrying and came out and played with the confidence of champions. They went back to their usual defence. They stuck Richie Hogan in front of the goal. Took another good one off the conveyor belt and went out and did what they do. Galway sadly came to the party without any more surprises up their sleeve.

Higher. Faster. Stronger. Can anybody catch them? Apart from Henry who has at least two years or so left, the rest of their forwards are just arriving at their peak or are a few years off. Can TJ Reid really be only 23? That's frightening.

Midfield is the same and Cillian Buckley looks like he could trade there or in the forwards. In the backs JJ is no spring chicken but he's not ready for the old folks home yet and they are blending in new young players like Paul Murphy and Kieran Joyce. Look at it this way. From the All-Ireland final of five years ago they have shed PJ Ryan, Michael Kavanagh, Derek Lyng, Cha Fitzpatrick, Willie O' Dwyer, Martin Comerford and Eddie Brennan. And Noel Hickey and Aidan Fogarty who also started that day were subs on Sunday. That's a turnover of nine players without a drop in standard.

The challenge is catching them. Not hoping to meet them on the way down. That's a challenge for managers, coaches and players. And also for county boards, too many of whom either pay lip service to hurling or are living in a hurling world which ended decades ago.

Last word goes to Henry. Nine All-Irelands and the mark of the man is not the amazing things he does but the small things. The work rate. The sleeves-up attitude. The way he gets involved. The way he plays without trying to create a highlight reel of flashy moments. To be as great as he is you need humility. He serves the team. He serves hurling. He decorates Irish sport.

The Saturday before the drawn game, at home in Cloyne, myself and my father were discussing hurling, the All-Ireland final and Christy Ring, who lived just a few doors down from us. We were looking at a picture of Ring's last game that hangs in my parents' living room and saying how his achievements could be eclipsed the following day.

My Father reminded me of what Christy had predicted himself.

"The best hurlers are with us now" he said "and the best hurlers are still to come."

If there's better to come than Henry, I hope I live to see it. Please let him wear a red jersey!..

This is the latest of Dónal Óg Cusack's exclusive 'On The Line' hurling columns, which have featured on GAA.ie throughout the summer. The opinions expressed in this column are personal and are not necessarily those of the Association.