Croke Park within sight for Kildare hurlers

JOE McDONAGH CUP ROUND 5 

KILDARE v DOWN 

Saturday, Cedral St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge, 2pm

When the fixtures for the Joe McDonagh Cup were published most of the hurling fraternity would have pegged this final round clash as one that could decide whether Kildare stayed up or returned once more to the Christy Ring.

When they opened their third ever campaign at this level with a late collapse and demoralising defeat to Kerry in Newbridge five weeks ago, Kildare still had not won a Joe McDonagh Cup game in nine attempts.

In the aftermath of that debacle, I wrote here that “unfortunately the hurlers are beginning to take on traits the footballers have been renowned for over the years and the manner of their late collapse to the Kingdom was resonant, though perhaps less dramatic, of their second half no-show against Down in the League final.” 

It really felt as if Kildare hurling was at a crossroads, with promotion to Division 1B of the League potentially to be followed by a return to Christy Ring status.

What a transformation since!

Here’s a stat for you: before this campaign Kildare had played either Westmeath, Carlow or Laois 51 times in competitive fare since 2000. They’d won 11 of those, drawing 4 and losing no fewer than 36 of those ties. The wins and draws all came against Carlow or Westmeath. We only played Laois in that quarter century six times, losing each time. Indeed, we had lost our last 11 games to Laois dating back to 1978.

That background – the McDonagh Cup record and the results against Leinster’s Tier 2 teams – puts the remarkable turnaround of the last few weeks in context. Quite simply, it has been one of the stories of the summer, even if, to the GAA’s shame it has played out Off Broadway as usual. Thank goodness for Clubber TV.

Brian Dowling must take huge credit, together with his management team, for turning things around in such a short space of time. He always said that the primary focus was on the McDonagh Cup this year but to beat Westmeath by six points and then go away to Carlow and Laois and beat them by six and eleven points respectively was surely beyond the wildest dreams of any Kildare supporter.

That performance in O’Moore Park on Sunday is by some distance the best I have seen from a Kildare team, though no doubt some supporters could point to some heroic deeds in the 1970’s such as the win over Dublin in Leinster in 1976 and subsequent four-point loss to eventual All Ireland finalists Wexford in the provincial semi-final.

While the four goals were taken with panache the highlight for me was the defending. Rian Boran and Simon Leacy have played some incredible games for Kildare, but none have surpassed what they produced on Saturday. Boran marked dangerman James Duggan out of the game to such an extent the Laois man didn’t appear for the second half.

The defence as a whole was outstanding, playing with a tightness and ferocity that were levels above what we have seen before from them. Dan O’Meara, for one so inexperienced, deserves a shout out too. They switched off momentarily for the goal but that didn’t phase them, and Kildare were the team with the hunger to win it down the home stretch.

James Burke was outstanding again, adding three long range points to the five he scored against Carlow the week before while Cathal Dowling left every ounce of himself out there and Gerry Keegan looked every inch the top class hurler he is.

David Qualter too, though he missed a few frees, was immense for such a young man. His crossfield pass to club colleague Cathal McCabe for the opening goal was class personified, while his own finish for the second was exquisite. McCabe was another who left everything on the field and led from the front in a mature display.

What to say about Jack Sheridan? Tightly marked and unable to get on the ball in the first half, the Naas man nonetheless never stopped working for the team and got his just reward with those outstanding improvised finishes to bring his goal tally for Kildare to an incredible 55, with four of those coming in the three recent wins.

What of next Saturday? Thanks to the wins over Carlow and Laois, Kildare know that anything other than a draw in the clash of those two in Netwatch Cullen Park will see the Lilywhites, incredibly, through to a first McDonagh Cup final.

Even if they lost to Down, Kildare would finish second ahead of the Carlow/Laois losers on the head-to-head, though a draw in that other game would put Kildare out if they either lost to or drew with Down.

Of course, a win for Kildare, and revenge for those two league defeats by the Mourne Men, would render the other game irrelevant from our perspective and on the evidence of the last three games you would have to back them to do that.

But Down, who won’t lack confidence despite an awful start to the campaign, know that they most likely need a win to extend their five year stay at Tier 2 level, and in winning their first game of the competition against Kerry last week, Ronan Sheehan’s men served notice that they may have regained their mojo.

Hopefully a big crowd will come and support the Kildare side. They certainly deserve it after a momentous few weeks for the game in the county.