Collins and Kelly primed for battle of Banner
Kilmacud boss Daly says final is toss-up
PODGE COLLINS is ready to do battle with his former Clare teammate Tony Kelly in the county’s hurling final on Sunday. Collins (pictured at the unveiling of the one-of-akind customised playing kit for the Fenway Hurling Classic in Boston next month) will line out for Cratloe against Kelly’s Ballyea.
THE Dublin county semi-final had the feel of an X-Factor audition. Set against the backdrop of the vacant Dublin senior hurling post, two hopefuls strode the sideline at Parnell Park, looking to show that they have the right stuff.
Mattie Kenny’s designs on the job have been well flagged, bolstered by the remarkable achievement of guiding Cuala to back-toback club All-Irelands.
Kilmacud Crokes manager Anthony Daly was like one of those familiar acts who had been through the process before, bolstered by his own strong back catalogue. The former Clare captain had been there and done it as Dublin manager, bridging the generation gap by leading the county to a first National League title since 1939 and a first Leinster since 1961.
And ‘Dalo’ certainly added to his reputation when Crokes stunned Cuala to set up a final against Ballyboden St Enda’s on Sunday at the same venue.
‘Yeah, it’s huge. But it’s no cup. It would be great to knock out Cuala and be getting the Championship. To knock out Cuala and get a resurgent Boden then is a totally different prospect.
‘To be fair, by the time we left the dressing-room, we tried to numb all that. We may be able to look back at it at the end of the year with a bit of fondness, but there’ll be no fondness if we lose the final.
‘Realistically, the final is 50/50. Most people expected a Boden/ Cuala final. And they were giving Boden a chance. I don’t think they’ve lost a game all year between League and Championship. They gave us a good trimming in the League.
‘Hopefully we’re coming good at the right time. All week before the Cuala match, our line was, “Can we ask the questions?”’
They certainly asked all the right ones, roaring into a big lead and hanging on for the victory.
Safe to say, the boy from Clarecastle never dreamt of being a cult hero in Stillorgan, south Dublin. Yet his connections during his time in Dublin meant he had an affinity with Kilmacud Crokes, starting with Richie Stakelum and Chris Thompson who featured in the Dublin set-up, and leading to a point where he launched his own memoir in the club’s heartland of Glenalbyn.
‘When I launched the book, the Dublin version of it, I did it down there. I suppose I had an affinity with them in some ways. When the call came last October, it was, “That’ll be a long haul”. But the heartstrings were pulled by the Borrisoleigh man (Stakelum) and Professor Thompson. So I said yeah, I’ll give it a lash.’
The weekend of the All-Ireland final, they ramped up preparations with a trip down to familiar Daly territory. ‘We brought them down to Clare, just for a taste of the good air down there. We brought them down to the East Clare golf club. We played St Thomas on the way down — a very good match.
‘We said we were going to give it everything. Because literally, we took July and the first two weeks in August off. I know Boden took no time off. So maybe that will stand to them, or maybe we’ll be a bit fresher.’
Pat Gilroy’s decision to step down as Dublin manager after just one season in charge was a curveball nobody saw coming after the turbulence of Ger Cunningham’s time in charge.
‘Look, he was certainly a stabilising effect on the whole thing. I’m great friends with Ger and I would have thought he was a great appointment. The first year was relatively solid. But there was a bit too much turmoil. Too many stories and that kind of thing.
‘Pat came in and wiped the slate clean with everybody. He gave everybody a go and obviously trained them like absolute savages because the League wasn’t hectic. To be fair, they were really the most consistent team in the Championship. They never had a down-day.
‘If you go through Munster, everyone had a down-day. Dublin didn’t and were desperately unlucky.’
Looking further afield to next year’s All-Ireland race, the RTÉ pundit says that while Munster is a shark pool, All-Ireland champions Limerick are here to stay.
‘Even if they didn’t come out [of Munster], they’d be strong contenders again with the profile. They won’t be going away for a good few years. In Munster, there will be two big casualties. Who they’ll be? Very hard to call.’