11 hours ago
Short turn around for Dowling and Kildare are tough McDonagh Cup final victory
Joe McDonagh Cup hurling final: Kildare 2-26 Laois 1-19
Brian Dowling has revealed that he questioned his ability to manage Kildare after they lost to Kerry in the opening round of this season's Joe McDonagh Cup.
Seven weeks on, he's celebrating surely his greatest achievement in management after capturing the tier two title and, in the process, ending the county's 21-year absence from the Leinster SHC.
The Lilywhites produced a stunning second-half performance at Croke Park to see off favourites Laois.
Sub Jack Travers and Jack Sheridan grabbed the goals while free-taker David Qualter finished with 0-13. It was a giant collective effort from a team that appeared noticeably fitter as the game wore on. Cian Boran stood tall at the centre of a brilliant defensive effort.
Kildare's immediate reward for the maiden win is an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final clash with Dublin next weekend. They will then spend the winter months preparing for a first Leinster SHC tie in 2026 since they were beaten by Westmeath in 2004.
All of which seemed highly unlikely after the defeat to Kerry back in mid-April. That was the county's ninth defeat in the McDonagh Cup from nine games across three different campaigns.
Kerry ended up being relegated while Kildare, who only won the Christy Ring Cup last year, went on to win the title though a few 'home truths' needed to be dished out first.
"It's incredible, I can't describe the dressing-room after that Kerry match," said Dowling who previously managed Kilkenny camogie and St Kieran's College hurling teams to All-Ireland successes.
"I've been in a lot of dressing-rooms down the years, losing All-Ireland finals and stuff, but that honestly was one of the worst I've ever been in. I didn't know what to say to the lads. It was hard to say anything. I questioned my own ability as a manager, you know, where do you go? What do you do?
"We actually met the lads on the Tuesday night and we did no video analysis, like we normally would. We just had a hard chat. We told a few home truths between ourselves, as players and management. Then we just went back at it.
"We actually trained hard afterwards that night and it was the best thing that ever happened."
Five wins later - including two against Laois - Kildare have achieved one of the greatest triumphs in the county's hurling history.
They were actually fortunate to be level with Laois at half-time, 0-11 to 0-11, considering all the point attempts that favourites Laois butchered.
When Ben Conroy bundled home a Laois goal seconds after the restart, leaving the 2024 runners-up three points ahead, and with momentum on their side, it all looked ominous.
Kildare's response, just like that turnaround after the Kerry game, was truly impressive, outscoring Laois by 2-15 to 0-8 from there on to win by a 10-point margin. The Travers goal in the 60th minute summed up all that was good about Kildare on the day.
Darragh Melville defiantly stripped a Laois defender of possession after a short puck-out and worked the ball across to Sheridan whose blocked shot was slammed home by Travers.
Sheridan netted himself five minutes later, shrugging off a jersey pull as he darted by Laois defender Ryan Mullaney and shot low past Cathal Dunne.
Only for goalkeeper Dunne's excellence earlier, it would have been three goals for Kildare. Dunne pulled off a brilliant double save to thwart firstly Cathal McCabe and then, somehow, Sheridan.
Kildare sub Muiris Curtin punched the air in delight when he fired over in the 68th minute, sensing the job was done.
Only once has a side coming from the Joe McDonagh Cup won an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final, when Laois beat Dublin in 2019.
But if Kildare can repeat this wholehearted performance in Newbridge next Saturday, they'll have a chance.
"We'll do everything we can to be ready for it," said Dowling. "But look, obviously six days is difficult. If you had two weeks that would be a lot better and would give lads a chance.
"These lads are going to be very sore. There were a couple of them, I won't name names, but how they got on the pitch at all I don't know. We really had to patch them up. We had serious injuries coming into this game but we got through it."
Laois will play Tipperary in Portlaoise next weekend, probably on Saturday too, though manager Tommy Fitzgerald reckons the short turnaround is a 'joke'.
"It's all very raw at the moment but we will regroup in a day or two and it's important that we represent the jersey and the county as well as we can the next day," said Fitzgerald. "But it's a bit of a joke doing it next Saturday, to be honest with you."
Scorers for Kildare: D Qualter 0-13 (11 frees, 1 65); J Sheridan 1-4; J Travers 1-1; G Keegan 0-3; J Burke 0-2; S Leacy, P Dolan, M Curtin 0-1 each.
Scorers for Laois: T Keyes 0-6 (5 frees); B Conroy 1-2; P Delaney (2 frees), J Keyes, P Purcell, PJ Scully (1 free) 0-2 each; L Cleere, FC Fennell, J Duggan 0-1 each.
KILDARE: P McKenna; R Hogan, R Boran, D O'Meara; P Dolan, C Boran, S Leacy; D Guerin, C McCabe; C Dowling, J Sheridan, D Qualter; D Melville, J Burke, G Keegan.
Subs: J Travers for Dowling (59); M Curtin for McCabe (64); C Kehoe for Melville & L O'Reilly for Dolan (69); O Lynam for Keegan (72).
LAOIS: C Dunne; F C Fennell, J Walshe, C Comerford; P Delaney, L Cleere, D Conway; A Corby, J Keyes; P Purcell, T Keyes, D Dooley; M Dowling, J Quinlan, B Conroy.
Subs: A Dunphy for T Keyes (54); P Dunne for Comerford (60); J Duggan for Dowling (62); R Mullaney for Walsh (64); PJ Scully for Conroy (66).
Referee: M Kennedy (Tipperary).
