Lilywhites ready to bloom in maiden Joe McDonagh Cup final
It's been a busy few years for Brian Dowling.
Aside from managing the Kildare senior hurlers, was also involved with St Kieran's College's Leinster schools' winning team this year following two All-Ireland titles as manager of the Kilkenny camogie team.
Now Dowling is working the oracle with the Lilywhite hurlers as they head to Croke Park this Sunday for their first Joe McDonagh Cup final (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player) as a result of four successive wins in the group stages of the competition.
They meet Laois who they beat by 11 points - 4-20 to 1-18 - at O'Moore Park, but Dowling says that win will count for nothing on Sunday.
"We'll have to raise our level again," he says.
"Beating Laois the last day will count for nothing; they are in the exact same position as us now. They are a top-class team with a brilliant manager in Tommy Fitzgerald and a brilliant coach in Niall Corcoran and it will be a great game, I think. Two very good teams will be going hell for leather."
Back in 2018, at the annual Kildare GAA convention a 32-page, five-year strategic plan was launched.
The Kildare Hurling Action Plan was divided into three main strands – club hurling development, club-school links, and building a club hurling profile.
The hurling community in the county wanted to increase numbers playing the game to a high standard. They wanted top-flight league hurling for the county team and there was always the objective of doing well in the Joe McDonagh Cup.
Back then they were in Division 2B. Now they have promotion to Division 1B secure and Sunday's McDonagh Cup to look forward to.
Behind the scenes former Kildare full-back and county GDA John Doran is driving development and this year's Under-20 side had 11 clubs represented.
"We targeted to get to the top two this year," Dowling said. "We felt if things went well, we could get there.
"After losing to Kerry it didn't look like it would happen but as the year went we were delighted. We are always seeing improvements but things to work on also.
"Winning the Westmeath was a tough game; a big one and it was there to be won. From there we are hurling with confidence."
Dowling said he was delighted to get the job and following consultation with his friend and predecessor, David Herity, he felt there was a chance to do something.
"It was nice in one way to play Christy Ring last year as we had the chance to get things going.
"We could build the thing from there and this year we were promoted to Division 1B, but it's all coming from an incredible effort by different people.
"On the pitch the players work hard three nights a week but then focus on video work, S&C and ball-wall sessions outside training.
"Outside of the team there are a lot of good people involved - this progress hasn't just happened, and Colm Nolan, Adrian Kinsella and Eoin Stapleton have put in a huge amount of work at development and underage level, alongside John Doran.
"It's great to see these people after matches and see how happy they are. But we have another huge test on Sunday and that's all we are focused on."
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Extra.ie
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Getting this far would not have been possible for the Dubs, however, without the fully committed defensive effort that epitomised by corner-back Conor McHugh's display. For so long a Dublin football panellist, McHugh made his senior hurling debut for the county in March at 30 and, just three months on, he was central to keeping Limerick at bay. "It's that lad's mindset is what it is. You've seen him at the club with regards to what he can do there but that's totally mind-set," said Ó Ceallacháin. "He could have played nine or 10 years for Dublin, there's no question about that and you know why that didn't happen. "For him to want to do it and to come in and be with the lads for the first time, but for him to do it at that be honest, it's all mindset upstairs - and that's what he absolutely thrives on." The two-point victory had hurling supporters racking their brains for a result of similar significance. There was Antrim getting to the All-Ireland final back in 1989 by beating Offaly, who had lifted the Liam MacCarthy Cup four years earlier. There was Kerry's defeat of Waterford in 1993. More recently, Laois beat Dublin six years ago, and that was a shock - the county's biggest since beating Wexford in the 1985 Leinster hurling semi-final. There are others, too, but none of those David v Goliath successes were against the favourites for the All-Ireland - which was the case at Croke Park on Saturday. You can be sure that Ó Ceallacháin had drilled into his players that Dublin had won the two previous meetings with Limerick in the championship. But the more recent one came 10 years ago. Since then, Limerick have won five-All-Irelands, six Munster crowns and three National Leagues. And Dublin? Dublin had won nothing. The overwhelming feeling outside the camp was that they were heading for a hammering at HQ. Limerick were licking their wounds after their Munster final defeat to Cork while the Dubs were coming off a very tame loss to Galway in Leinster, with two late goals seemingly papering over the cracks. That result followed the Jekyll and Hyde performance against Kilkenny, when the Cats led by 16 points early in the second half only for Dublin to make it a two-point game in the 69th minute. "The Kilkenny game," reflected Ó Ceallacháin. "When we looked at it, the lazy analysis of that game was we had a poor first half, and then just came out (and played). That wasn't the case. We conceded goals in that game that we just shouldn't. "With the elements that day, we were up against it in that first half and we actually hurled very well for long periods. So there was a level standard of performance there. "Against Galway, we weren't where we wanted to basically be. I put that back on myself as well. We had three games in three weeks there. It's my first year at this, and I don't think I managed those weeks well, to be honest. Did I set the lads right up for it? "But also, games take their own flow as well. I forget the number of wides that we had in that first 20 or 25 minutes, but that does suck energy out of any team. "But there is a base performance there, I don't think we did a huge turnaround. We didn't look deep into our souls over where things were at. "We knew that certain things were where they needed to be, but some things in the Galway performance just were not good enough. Outside looking in, that was probably 'ah, they're back to where they where'. "We'd look under it and feel that there's a lot that was still OK about that day. I'm not understating performance or that we needed to be better. We absolutely did. But with less focus on the outcome of things, there's a lot of trust there that there'd be a base performance there and that we'd be in games." They were never not in it Limerick, not even when the Treaty men produced a third quarter comeback that saw them briefly go back in front. Dublin responded with their two goals, from super sub John Hetherton and Cian O'Sullivan. Hetherton's goal was a moment of sheer class. "His hands are outstanding," stressed the Dubs boss. "So once he got the ball off that left-hand side he has that ability and it was a standout finish. "I've no doubt that in that period, the expectation maybe in the stand or of those outside watching the game would have been that this will settle now and that Limerick will settle into a stride. "We knew the lads wouldn't falter. Anything can happen in a game, but what they won't do is fold. And so we knew we'd be in it." **************DUBLIN Seán BRENNAN 8 John BELLEW 8 Paddy SMYTH 8 Conor MCHUGH 8 Paddy DOYLE 8 Chris CRUMMEY 0-1 4 Andy DUNPHY 7 Conor BURKE 0-5 9 Brian HAYES 0-2 7 Riain MCBRIDE 0-2 8 Fergal WHITELY 0-1 7 Cian O'SULLIVAN 1-1 8 Seán CURRIE 0-9, 5fs 8 Ronan HAYES 0-3 7 Diarmuid Ó DÚLAING 6 SUBS: John Hetherton (1-0) 8 for O Dulaing ht, Darragh Power 7 for Whitely 52mins, Donal Burke 6 for McBride 64mins, Colin Currie 6 for Ronan Hayes 69mins, David Lucey 6 for McHugh 75mins. LIMERICK Nickie QUAID 7 Séan FINN 6 Dan MORRISSEY 7 Mike CASEY 5 Diarmuid BYRNES 6 Kyle HAYES 5 Barry NASH 0-1 7 Adam ENGLISH 0-5 8 William O'DONOGHUE 5 Gearóid HEGARTY 0-4 7 Cian LYNCH 0-2 7 Tom MORRISSEY 0-2 6 Aaron GILLANE 0-9, 6fs 165 7 Aidan O'CONNOR 0-3 7 David REIDY 5 SUBS: Cathal O'Neill (0-1) 7 for Tom Morrissey 23-24mins (blood), Barry Murphy 6 for Casey ht, O'Neill for Morrissey ht, Declan Hannon 5 for Nash 51mins, Peter Casey (0-1) 7 for O'Donoghue 58mins, Shane O'Brien 6 for O'Connor 64mins. REFEREE: Liam Gordon (Galway) QUOTE ME ON THAT "While this result will give us great confidence to kick on, we know we can do it anyway and the challenge for us now is that that's done now. This will be long forgotten if we don't follow through in a fortnight's time," Dubs boss Niall Ó Ceallacháin. STAR MAN Donal Burke (Dublin) Plenty of star turns from Blues players but the St Vincent man stood out for his constant presence and driving runs. Scored five points from play. AN OTHER "It's obviously a huge moment, and obviously the lad striking the ball is as good a striker of the ball as there is. So for Sean to make that save, I think he had the save from the goal chance earlier as well, these are big moments in big games," O'Ceallacháin pays tribute goalkeeper Seán Brennan's save from Aaron Gillane. UP NEXT DUBLIN: All-Ireland SHC semi-final v Cork, Croke Park July 5; LIMERICK: Out of the championship.
