Dowling in demand as Kilkenny crisis fuels Kildare exit fears

The hurling fortunes of Kildare and Kilkenny seem to be inextricably entwined these days. The links between the counties have grown over the last decade or so with the Naas club getting underage experience in the Kilkenny leagues and David Herity and Brian Dowling doing so much to elevate the fortunes of the Short Grass County team over the last eight seasons.

How important to the future fortunes of Kildare might Kilkenny’s failure to reach the knockout stages in Leinster prove to be? This was the first year since the current provincial format came into being in 2018 that the Cats have failed to reach the Leinster final and they were chasing a seventh title in a row.

But defeats to Galway and Dublin and a draw with Offaly saw Derek Lyng’s side eliminated and kick-started a summer of soul-searching down by the Nore, one that could well see Lyng depart the hot seat four years after succeeding Brian Cody.

That’s where Kildare come in, potentially. If a change is made by the Kilkenny County Board, they will presumably stick with tradition and appoint from within the county. In that scenario the two names being bandied about most commonly to replace Lyng are county under-20 manager and playing legend Henry Shefflin and Kildare manager Dowling.

Herity is another who could come into contention, having followed up his Kildare reign with a key coaching role in the Tipperary set-up under Liam Cahill, helping the Premier County to All-Ireland glory in 2025.

Shefflin, whose playing credentials are unsurpassed, has not been particularly successful as a manager, failing to pull up too many trees in his three years with the Galway seniors while his Kilkenny under-20’s were well beaten by the Tribesmen in the Leinster Final this year. He did win a county title with Ballyhale Shamrocks last year, however.

If Kilkenny prioritise a “name” then Shefflin will likely take over if Lyng does vacate the role, but it is hard to overlook the credentials of Dowling.

The O’Loughlin Gaels club man has won two camogie All Irelands with his native county and led St Kieran’s College to three Dr Croke Cup titles in four years. With Kildare he became the first manager to win the Christy Ring Cup and Joe McDonagh Cups in successive seasons as well as winning promotion to Division 1B of the league and maintaining that status for 2027.

Whether those achievements, which are a little off-Boradway for the traditional counties, will resonate enough with the Kilkenny hierarchy remains to be seen, should they decide for change in the first place.

Fears that Dowling might feel he has taken Kildare as far as he can appeared to be quashed following the final Leinster game against Offaly two weeks ago when the Kilkenny man seemed enthusiastic about staying on for a fourth year.

Dowling’s three-year term is officially up but he seemed interested in extending that when talking to the Kildare Nationalist in the aftermath of that game.

“I came in on a three-year term under the old county board. It still has to be reviewed. I have to sit down with the county board,” he told us.

“For me it is all down to the players. It’s up to them what they want. I have so much time for that group in there, but they have to decide what’s best for Kildare.” Crucially, Dowling doesn’t feel going back down to the McDonagh Cup is a deal-breaker.

“It’s a brilliant competition,” he feels. “Obviously, you’d prefer to be in the Leinster Championship, but that group there is young. The average age of the group is 22-23. They’re young, they’re good enough to come back and have the appetite. No one hands you a Joe McDonagh either, you have to go and earn it.” That last point is one Kildare will have to be mindful of. Kildare will face the losers of next week’s final between improving Laois and Carlow, as well as Westmeath and three Ulster teams, a post-Davy Fitzgerald Antrim, tricky customers in Down, and a Derry team who finally escaped the shackles of the Christy Ring tier with their surprise win over Kerry at the weekend.

Crucially, staying in Division 1B gives Kildare, hopefully with Dowling on board, access to high-quality games in the lead-up to the McDonagh Cup, with a resurgent Offaly, Waterford, Wexford, Antrim, Laois and Kerry lining up against them.

Despite the way it ended, Kildare will take plenty from the Leinster campaign just gone, though of course there will be regrets too. Primarily, those will revolve around a failure to take points off a Lee Chin-inspired Wexford in the opening round, a game that set a pattern for Dowling’s side playing superbly in the opening half of games (see also Clare in the league, Galway and Kilkenny in the championship) before not quite having the legs and nous to keep that standard going after the interval.

That is something that comes with youth but perhaps also suggests that, despite the huge strides taken under S&C coach Mick Gillick, another step-up is needed. Perhaps more pertinently, it points also to a need to develop bench-strength, so that those coming in later in games can maintain standards to the same level as the starting fifteen.

Kildare also need to be more clinical in front of the posts. Dowling won’t have been happy with their wide counts, and you have to take the vast majority of your chances at the top level. The loss of David Qualter was a factor in that.

Speaking of injuries, Kildare rued the loss of James Burke for the season, the Naas talisman only making a brief appearance off the bench in Kilkenny, while Cian Boran’s appendix operation was another blow and Darragh Melville, Alan Goss and Cathal Dowling were others to have interrupted seasons.

But with the likes of the three Borans, Cathal McCabe and Muiris Curtin bringing their game to new levels, and youth on their side, the future can still be bright for this team, despite the drop back to McDonagh level.

Brighter still if they manage to hold onto the Kilkenny man driving it all.