To make peace with the state of the Leinster hurling championship over the last decade, we often needed to get existential about things. The championship couldn’t stand up by itself as a legitimate contest. Individual stories were the only hook. Even then some imagination, and a stomach for upsetting scenes, were required.
How hard would Kilkenny be pushed? On those days when they ripped the opposition apart, the championship was compensated for the lack of serious competition by the sheer majesty of their hurling. We watched and wondered if Dublin would ever muster the belief and the panel to stay close to Wexford and Offaly. How lightly would Galway step through Leinster without any baggage? How graphic would the scale of Wexford’s annual decline be? Or Offaly’s?
All the time Brian Cody and a chorus line of Kilkenny players proclaimed their fealty to the Leinster championship. Nobody was really listening. Kilkenny’s dominance and the failure of anyone in Leinster to get near them became a standard reference point for the game’s decline. That wasn’t fair either. Kilkenny’s underage structures were better and more efficient. They were blessed with the greatest group of hurlers they ever knew, but their hard work and attention to detail ensured those resources weren’t wasted. It wasn’t Kilkenny’s fault the Leinster championship nearly died. It was everyone else’s.
Then, just at its point of expiration a few years ago, the Leinster championship flickered its eyelids again. Dublin reached a Leinster final. Galway made Kilkenny sweat in Portlaoise for a night. Offaly scared the life from Galway last June and gave Kilkenny their hardest half-hour all year in 2008.
Gradually, the Leinster championship is starting to show signs of recovery. In other years, a good league run in April usually meant Dublin were near full pelt. This time, there could be more in them. After years in freefall, Offaly are slowly steadying themselves. Wexford are in a terrible state, but that makes life more interesting for Laois and Antrim. Nobody fully believes Kilkenny are ready to get turned over, but it hasn’t felt this possible for the guts of 15 years, either.
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“They’ve lost a bit of that sense of invincibility,” says former Offaly player Michael Duignan. “They lost the All-Ireland final, and their league form has been indifferent. I thought Kilkenny would go out to make a statement in the league, but it hasn’t worked out that way. They’ve had a lot of injuries. Maybe the strength in depth isn’t what people thought. Without Shefflin and Richie Power they’re lacking leadership up front. The full-back line was in difficulty in last year’s All-Ireland final. That can all change between now and June, but there’s definitely more hope around.”
Everything is relative, though. While Kilkenny have conceded some of their lead to the chasing pack this spring, they have the legs to widen the gap again when the ground hardens up. They have still beaten Tipperary, Cork and Waterford. The worrying moments, though, happened against Leinster teams. Their collapse against Galway was the most disconcerting note they have struck for many years. Losing the Walsh Cup with a shadow team to Dublin wasn’t cause for concern. Falling 15 points behind was.
Behind Kilkenny, Leinster is closing up like a concertina. Galway remain their closest threat, but they must still turn their league victories over Kilkenny into a summer habit.
Meanwhile, Dublin are the rising tide that lifts every other boat. Instead of pinning everything on Dotsy O’Callaghan, Dublin now have Conal Keaney and Ryan O’Dwyer beside him. Their panel was damaged by injury over the past fortnight, but they have time and serious quality to add to it before May.
Training has been intense and players have assumed more responsibility for setting the tone and standard. They hit 19 wides against Galway last Sunday and lost by a point, but spent the week reminding themselves that they bossed the game. Come the summer Dublin will feel Galway, at least, are still within reach.
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If Dublin’s improvement is the greatest aid to Leinster’s buoyancy, Wexford are the heaviest drag. Last week Liam Dunne suggested Wexford could dip into the Christy Ring Cup if their slide wasn’t arrested. Moves to reduce the number of teams in the local senior club championship could produce a more intensive competition, and other improvements may help, but not in the short term.
“People like myself and Liam Dunne are reasonably sane,” says Declan Ruth. “We don’t expect the team to be winning All-Irelands or anything like it. But we should be getting a lot more from the current squad. As it is, we’re underperforming. We ran Waterford and Offaly close. We ran Kilkenny close. If things were better we might have got a victory or two. With what we have, we should still be able to keep in Division One.
“When they played Dublin in the league, our lads noticed their collective fitness, their build and their strength. Our lads just aren’t at that level yet. Anthony Daly’s had Dublin three years and done a fine job, and now they’re showing signs of improvement. It’s maybe a lack of commitment from a section of our team that we’re not at that level, and the management have to hold their hands up as well. They’re not driving the team hard enough. Management and players alike have to take responsibility.”
Having swapped positions with them through the years, losing to Offaly last weekend confirmed Wexford’s current status behind them. Having felt Offaly chip away at their status in Leinster over the past 30 years, that part of the decline still hurts more than anything Kilkenny have inflicted.
For Offaly, the match represented the first time in a while they fielded near a full team after a spring stricken by injury. It’s been a league campaign of heavy defeats speckled by promising cameos, but after years in freefall, another season in Division One represents a small, crucial toehold. “Reality has set in there,” says Duignan. “When you look over the medium and long term, there’s a lot of work to be done. Offaly haven’t won a Leinster title since 1995. Carlow are beating them at underage level, that’s no disrespect to Carlow, but the glory days are gone. If Offaly had everybody this year, they would’ve been more competitive in Division One. But we need to be realistic.”
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Last summer Offaly showed some spike against Galway in the championship, and retain the capacity for one big show. Their first choice forward line has plenty of craft and physical presence, but injuries have restricted their opportunities. Opinion remains divided on whether Offaly are getting the best from the team, but when they’re all healthy, the panel has more colour in its cheeks these days. Meeting Dublin in May offers Offaly the kind of bubble they live to burst. Turning that potential into stability is the challenge now.
“You can’t take seven or eight players from any team and expect them to be competitive,” says Duignan, “so we can discount Offaly’s league on that basis. Dublin seem to be playing very well, but the gap will close. Dublin have the population and the resources and it should happen for them, but they must make it happen. Offaly have done that before. Bottom line, any player who pulls on an Offaly jersey won’t be afraid of a Dublin jersey.”
For the first time in Leinster for a long time, everything will count for something.