In conversation with... Kildare Senior Hurling manager Brian Dowling
Brian Dowling is mobbed by his backroom team at the final whistle of the Joe McDonagh Cup Photo: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
Brian Dowling Returns for a third year as manager of the Kildare senior hurlers and after a year in which Kildare won the Joe McDonagh Cup and gained promotion to Division 1B of the Allianz League the Kilkenny native sat down with The Kildare Nationalist to reflect on his second year in charge of the Lilywhites.
Brian, first of all, what were your thoughts going into your second year in charge of Kildare?
The first year was all about was all about getting back into Joe McDonagh, Pat, and once we had did that the aim was to get into the top two of the competition but the main thing was that we would stay in the competition and try and get promoted to Division 1B. We thought that was a very realistic target.
You had to prepare without a number of experienced players who had stepped away so you had a newer panel to work with?
Yeah, a few players had stepped away for different reasons and we made a couple of changes ourselves. We had a good look at lads during that first year. Some key players came back then as well, like Gerry Keegan, which was a huge plus. We learned a lot from watching the lads in the first year and we knew there were some good young players there that improved as the year went on. It's now a very young group and the average age in most matches was 22.
But these young players matured as the year went on?
We challenged the players to believe they needed to improve and they really put their stamp on things. I think it was good for them that they got to develop during the first Christy Ring. The likes of Daire Guerin was on the Kildare team before he was on the Naas team. Dan O’Meara and Cian Boran also had a year or two behind them so they were ready to go. They were a breath of fresh air.
The loss of Conan Boran was a big blow but you managed to cope without him.
He was a huge loss and then we also lost Tim Ryan, one of our up-and-coming young players, with a shoulder operation in January. Mark Grace, our full back, retired and Cian Shanahan stepped away as he was doing a Masters. It's funny how things work. Cian Boran was corner back last year and he went back into the half back lane and was absolutely terrific for us there. Richie Hogan didn't feature during the League much but then he came in and got his chance against Westmeath and he had a brilliant year after that. Lads just stepped up no matter what the position and made the jerseys their own.
Five wins and one loss in the League. That loss to Down on opening day did that rankle with you?
No, it didn't really because I knew we played well. I would always be disappointed if we didn’t turn up. The previous year we lost to Meath on the first day when we didn’t put in a good performance. That result really stuck with me for a long time but in the Down game I could really put it to bed very quickly as I thought the lads played really well that day. We started really well but were seven down at half time. We pulled it back and went ahead but obviously didn't finish well. We did have a lot of injuries. Jack Sheridan wasn’t in the squad that day, Gerry Keegan only came on for ten minutes, Cian Boran went off five minutes after halftime with an injury. It wasn’t our strongest team. I just felt that was good performance and although disappointed we didn't win we had a good chance to turn around the following week against Kerry. I felt if we beat Kerry, we would be in a great position to push on for the League and that's the way it turned out.
As you say the ultimate aim was to get promotion to Division 1B and you reached the Final but was there disappointment that you just didn't go all the way and pick up the silverware?
That was a disappointing day. It’s a League Final so you want to win it. It's National trophy. Again, at halftime we would have been disappointed with our performance but we came out after halftime and in the first five or ten minutes we actually blew Down away and went eight up. It's incredible that we lost the game by seven points. That was disappointing and you're just kind of wondering are you going to win any big, tough games? I said that day if we turn around and beat Down in the Joe McDonagh, I'd much prefer that, though.
You didn't have much time to prepare for Joe McDonagh, you were straight into it about two weeks or so later on 19 April, was there pressure on you, on the team, because the whole narrative was Kildare had never won a game in the Joe McDonagh?
Yeah, I think so and probably the pressure was coming from ourselves in the group. I kind of felt we'd have a big performance against Kerry, especially after losing the Down game, that we’d turn up against Kerry. We were well prepared and we thought we had everything done right but I don't know, that week of the match we had a few injuries and a few things were going on just in the background with injuries and lads pulling out. Some lads weren’t 100% and I suppose we were just flat on the day. I don't know what happened, we just didn't turn up. We put ourselves in a great position twice. We went four points up and Kerry scored the last five points. We questioned everything after that game. Where are we going? What are we doing? That was the third time this year that we were in a tough battle and we hadn't finished the job. The pressure after that game then was higher than ever before.
The feeling after Kerry was devastating. That was one of the worst I've ever experienced as a manager. In the dressing room it was hard to look at the players but we didn’t play well enough. Our stats were there. The tackle count was way down; our GPS numbers were way down. We didn't work hard enough; we didn't go hard enough. We said that whatever happened for the rest of the year we weren't going to let that happen again. We were going to absolutely leave everything we had on the field and in fairness to the lads they stood up after that in every single game. Luckily, we had only a week to worry about it but we had to get back on the horse for the game the following Saturday against Westmeath and we just had to get ready for that.
Where did the performance against Westmeath come from? Was it the management team? Was it the players or a combination of both, everybody just gelled on the day?
It was a combination of both but at the end of the day it was down to the players. They are the ones who perform between the white lines. I think a lot of it was just frustration from the Kerry game. We just said to them what are we holding back here for? What we waiting for? We're at home. let's have a go at it. The pressure was off because we weren't favourites, everybody expected us to lose.
We got a great start and I think that 20/25 minutes at the start was probably the best we played all year. We blew Westmeath out of the water. I think we had 2-14 on the board after 25 minutes but again we let Westmeath back into it but what I loved was when the game was there to be won, we actually won it. It was level and Cian Boran, our centre back, from a puck out went up and got an unbelievable point and we kicked on from there. When you look back at the League Final and against Kerry in the first round the players weren’t looking for the ball, nerves and tensions were there. Against Westmeath that was different and we knew we were on to something different here. I think the shackles were off after that and the lads just let loose and they could just go and hurl.
Did you find a Kildare way to play after that because some of the performances were absolutely outstanding?
That's the way we wanted them to play all year. We want to use the ball; we wanted to run with numbers coming off the shoulders and at times deliver inside. We probably changed our system from the League to the Joe McDonagh. We probably would have played three across the middle in the League and in Joe McDonagh we put six on top but just against Kerry for some reason it didn't work. We tweaked it a little bit but we just really pushed up and ran at teams. We feel we have good forwards and we trusted our backs. We didn't want to put in sweepers. We felt that we could score from the half back line and we we're scoring five to six points from there. We just wanted lads to go at teams and once we got that win the lads really believed that now the pressure was off. We’ve won our first game, let’s just go and hurl. You got to see the real Kildare after that.
What was the feeling going into the Joe McDonagh Final, one of confidence?
There was big pressure in the Down game because if we didn't get the job done then, as it turned out, we would have been out and that would have been very hard to come around. So, it was to try and get the heads right for Down because we were so close. Everyone was probably telling the lads that even if you lose, you’ll be in the final but as it turned out, if we did lose, we weren't going to be in the final.
It was just a brilliant buzz to get to the final and we were there on merit after beating Westmeath, Laois and Carlow. No one could question why we were there. People were probably saying it was going to be hard to beat Laois twice but I think by beating them in O’Moore Park gave us the confidence going into Croke Park. The lads were ready for it; we had to take the opportunity. It probably came maybe a year or two before some people expected but you never know when your time will come again. This was our opportunity and we had to take it.
You've done it all with club, county and college in Kilkenny but what did it mean to you to win the Joe McDonagh?
Any team I’m involved in, it doesn't matter what club or what county, that's my team and I give it 100%. I’m not a Kildare man but as long as I’m involved with Kildare, I’ll put everything into it. For me the joy with any team I'm involved with, it's for the team winning, it’s for the players. I saw how disappointed the players were after the Kerry game; how despondent they were so for them to have that turn around was absolutely amazing. And all the effort they put in and I suppose they dreamed about this day but I don't think the lads believed it themselves at the start of the year. All they wanted to do was to avoid relegation but we felt they were better than that. It took a while to convince them. I think they didn’t believe us until we actually beat Westmeath. The Carlow game then gave real belief as well because we had now beaten another big team two weeks in a row. Anytime you win anything in Croke Park it’s special and to do it in the way we did it as well. It wasn't falling over the line. I thought we were getting better as the game went on and that was brilliant.
Did you get a chance to enjoy it because you had a big game the following week against Dublin.
We did and we didn’t. We enjoyed the Sunday and the Monday but the lads were back training on Wednesday and Thursday. To me it's not fair, you just have six days of a turnaround. That was our All-Ireland Final, that's what we trained for all year. I felt bad even asking the lads to look after themselves on the Tuesday. They're were within their rights to a full week and to go to different places in Kildare and really enjoy themselves and we're telling them to hold back from it. Don't get me wrong, it's brilliant to play in the Liam McCarthy but if the GAA are going to persist with it, they are going to have to give at least two weeks to the team. I think it should be only the winning team, too. Imagine if Tipperary or Cork had to turn around on Saturday and play in a competition. It just wouldn’t happen. So, for me, it's a two weeks or they just have to forget about it fully.
Apart from the result and the rain and the fact that you had to play so quickly after the final did you all get a chance to enjoy the occasion against Dublin because it was a big game in Cedral St Conleth’s in front of a big crowd?
It's a funny one. It’s hard to enjoy a match when you're getting well beaten. It was a great occasion and I was actually really looking forward to it. I've never experienced torrential rain like it; it was incredible. It was a good atmosphere and it was great to see the big crowd there. I always wanted to see the lads play in Newbridge with a big crowd and that's what we had. We were just disappointed that we couldn't put our best foot forward. I know we're better than that but for me the best thing about it was it was great for the lads to see what level they needed to get.
They don’t need me, Mick Gillick or anybody else to tell them now that there's a serious gulf in class there. We know it's going to be tough next year, but it's brilliant to see that first-hand. The power that the Dublin lads had and how quick they move things and how quickly you're punished if you make mistakes. We know the levels we have to get there or else we just won’t survive.
When we spoke to you immediately after that Dublin game you were a little bit hesitant as to what might happen in the future with regard to yourself. That seems have cleared up, you're back for another year, at least?
Any team I’m involved in I don't agree in contracts for a five-year term or three-year term. It's about the year in front of you. I was just being as honest as I could. I wanted to go back to Kildare but I wanted to make sure that everything was in place. If everything was in place and if everything was going to be done right, I was more than happy to come back. I had a few meetings with the County Board to make sure that everything was going to be set up for next year to give us the best possible chance to compete at that level. We’re in Division 1B playing against the All-Ireland Champions of 2024, we’re playing Wexford, we’re playing Dublin. Then we’re playing Kilkenny, Galway, Dublin and Offaly in the Liam McCarthy. There are huge matches there. We can see what happened against Dublin, we aren't where we need to be. There's a lot of work to be done and it’s going take longer than six or twelve months to fix this. To give us the best possible chance I just wanted to make sure that Kildare we're fully behind us and I’m delighted to say that the talks were positive and they are willing to put their shoulders and fight what we can for 2025.
In the past Kildare teams might not have had the ambition to play the likes of the Wexfords, the Clares, the Dublins and indeed the Antrims. The ambition seems to be there now?
You have to keep testing yourself against the best. In the last two years for me, especially in the League and the Christy Ring, the biggest thing for us was guarding against complacency. You’re playing teams that you should be beating by 20/25 points and it's great but at the end of the day, it's not good either because the players are not testing themselves against the best players and that’s no disrespect to any team. Again, I said to the players if you want to get out of Joe McDonagh the only way of doing that was to prove it. You have to go and win games and we did that this year. You can't be saying you're too good for Christy Ring or too good for Joe McDonagh. The only way is to get up there and prove it and that's what the lads did. So, look, it's an extra step and we've all seen in the last few years how the likes of Carlow, Antrim and Westmeath go up and then they go straight back down again. We're under no illusions; this is going to be a huge battle but it's one that the lads are going to be up for and I know this is what they want. They want to play against the best players and the to test themselves. There probably will be a few tough days along the way but we just have to make sure that we do everything we can to give us the best possible chance.
