It's not often that the winner of a player of the week poll will start on the bench but you can't really argue with the readers of Balls.ie voting for Richie Hogan as the Hurler of the Week.
While Dublin and Cork provided the best contest of the weekend in the qualifiers on Saturday night, it was Kilkenny's dominant second half display to win their 16th Leinster title in 19 years that was the performance of the weekend.
Hogan wasn't expected to make the game after a hand injury had ruled him out of action, but he was brought on at half time for Eoin Larkin, and led the comeback with five points from play and a generally inspirational Richie Hoganesque performance.
He managed to sweep up 53% of your vote depsite only playing 35 minutes of hurling. Conor Fogarty's fine 70 minute display from midfield, which included three points only yielded just over 10%. Meanwhile, Jonjo Farrell wasn't even considered despite scoring 1-4.
In Pairc Ui Rinn on Saturday night, Cork had Alan Cadogan to thank to seeing off the charge of 14 man Dublin. When Dublin leveled the scores late on, it was Cadogan's score that steadied the ship for Cork, a point which summed up his generally outstanding display on an otherwise struggling team.
Still though, with Cork now facing Wexford on Saturday, a place in the Quarter Finals looks likely despite no sense of optimism at all on Leeside.
Man of the match Alan Cadogan gives his reaction after Cork's 1-26 to 1-23 win over Dublin. https://t.co/q1BG8wSIDv pic.twitter.com/TvAo37Rbgh
— Sky Sports GAA (@SkySportsGAA) July 2, 2016
From Dublin's point of view, it's another disappointing season for Ger Cunningham. For their year to end in the first weekend of July is not good enough for a team that looked on the verge of making a massive breakthrough just three years ago.
One bright spark was the performance of Under 21 star Chris Bennett, who despite only winning 10% of your vote, was superb for Dublin after been brought in late to play in midfield. There'll be more days for Bennett to shine and his week was salvaged at least with Dublin's Leinster Under 21 Final win over Offaly last night.
Elsewhere, I'm sure Clare's 19 year old wunderkind Aaron Shanagher can count himself unlucky not to get an nomination for Hurler of the Week after scoring 3-1 against Laois, but his team's 35 point win does undermine that somewhat.
