Dempsey not jumping on the Banner’s bandwagon
Kilkenny selector believes the ‘old guard’ can shoot down young guns
MICHAEL DEMPSEY isn’t buying the talk of a new world order in hurling. Or that Clare have somehow redefined the game in the course of winning last year’s All-Ireland. Or that the thrilling September showpiece involving Cork – and the replay for that matter – deserve to be put on a pedestal.
As someone who has been involved in six All-Ireland wins with Kilkenny, the trainer isn’t about to jump on the Clare bandwagon.
‘I’m not so sure the style of hurling has changed hugely. Maybe Clare do play more of a running game but the fundamentals are still about winning ball and using it very well. I can remember going back to Kilkenny in previous All-Irelands and people speaking about the way the team played. Maybe if you compared, I don’t think there might be as big a difference as people are portraying.
‘In terms of the style of play, I don’t really buy into a new order or a different way of playing. I don’t think there is a major shift. When you play well, everyone talks about your style; when you play badly people talk about your lack of style.
‘Obviously Clare are new. They’ve been successful at underage level; the All-Ireland final went to a replay. Two very good games, the replay played under lights which was unique for an All-Ireland. But I think the standard and entertainment value has been good for a number of years.’
While Championship 2013 rightly deserves to be lauded as one of the best in living memory, Dempsey has a point about previous All-Ireland finals. The 2009 and 2010 jousts between Kilkenny and Tipperary were of a different kind to the score-a-minute thrillers of last September but no less captivating for the mix of bruising physicality, intensity and skill under pressure.
The recent Allianz Hurling League final was just the latest instalment in the county’s long-standing rivalry and Kilkenny’s extra-time victory is a big reason why the county approach next Saturday’s Leinster Championship opener against Offaly in a much more positive frame of mind.
After last year’s defeat by Dublin in Leinster and the All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Cork, how important then was it for Kilkenny to show they haven’t gone away?
‘It’s not a matter really of sending out a message; it’s a matter of putting our best foot forward and try to win all of our games,’ insists Dempsey.
REGARDLESS of who you’re playing you want to win. A national title is at stake. We’ve had some epic battles. The standard of hurling and the entertainment value over the last seven or eight years between Kilkenny and Tipperary is huge.
‘The challenge of sport is to rise to the occasion. Be as good as you can be. That’s what inspires all of us, whoever the opposition is.’
The grin as he finishes the sentence though is a giveaway as to what beating Tipp meant. The sight of Brian Cody jumping into the opposition dug-out at Semple Stadium after reacting to a comment from the Tipperary camp told as much.
Dempsey is happy to deflect as to what irked the Kilkenny manager so much. ‘We were slagging Brian on the way home. The game was very tense. Normally we have that dug-out. I think he just turned around and walked into that dug-out by mistake.’
He is happy though, to answer the question that the League campaign was mere shadow-boxing ahead of the summer. ‘I would never have bought into the idea of shadow-boxing. Tell me who doesn’t want to win all of their games?
‘You’re dealing with a situation where we lost last year, where we probably don’t find ourselves in the top three or four teams in the country. We were unfortu- nate last year with injuries and this year we made a conscious decision to look around the county and see if there are any players out there who can add to the panel.’
Asked if Kilkenny got it wrong in not taking a similar approach last year in chasing a three-in-a-row of All-Irelands, he replies: ‘You’re dealing with a team that has been hugely successful. If you’re coming off the back of a win, it’s difficult to put in seven or eight new players. It just doesn’t work that way.’
While he is now associated with the modern success story of Kilkenny hurling, Dempsey first made his name on the football field with Laois and his heart will be with his native county who face Galway in the Leinster SHC this afternoon.
‘I was down at the Laois-Galway game in the Championship last year and I never
I’m not so sure the style of hurling has changed hugely – there’s no major shift
left O’Moore Park feeling as proud. They didn’t win the match but their performance was excellent. They restored so much pride, in themselves and in the game of hurling. It was fantastic.’
He heaps high praise on the work done by Pat Critchley and senior manager Seamus ‘Cheddar’ Plunkett and when it’s put to him whether he can see Laois winning a Leinster hurling title in his lifetime, he says it’s all about thinking big.
‘I’m one of these people who believes anything is possible in sport if the attitude and the work is being put in. I’m an optimist. I believe that if you can get that gelling of minds and skill and preparation, it can happen.
‘I was involved in O’Hanrahans in Carlow who went on to win a Leinster football title.
‘I really believe that if you get a meeting of minds, real teamwork, have a basic amount of skill and get fitness and everything else right, anything is possible. Would I like to see Laois win a Leinster title? I’d love to.’