COMMENT: Kildare County Board must answer the call for further hurling support

It has been a monumental season for the Kildare hurlers with a Joe McDonagh Cup win coming just five weeks after their first ever victory in the competition. Their season came to an end last weekend with an All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship defeat to Dublin that was only going one way for a shopping list of reasons.

The small ball game has grown exponentially in Kildare in recent years and, while the footballers are in the process of rebuilding, the work done by Kildare GAA in hurling has received praise en masse. Those commendations are justified, but it is now time to back the hurling side of things more than ever. An expansion of staff and off the field support will need to match the necessary additional endeavour of the players who will tackle Division 1B and the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship in 2026.

Speaking after his side's loss to Dublin in Cedral St Conleth’s Park, Brian Dowling addressed his future and what needs to be done for next year. He said: “We’ll have to sit down, talk to the County Board, and see what happens. A lot of work has to go into it, we have to be fully backed, and everyone needs to be on the same page. There is so much that has to go into this. I’d say we have the smallest backroom of any intercounty team, but brilliant lads. The backroom team that I have is unbelievable in everything that they have done, but we are trying to do so much. It’s so hard.”

The Dublin hurling set-up had some familiar faces to local fans too with Nigel O'Hara involved in their set-up to name just one. The Kildare boss makes a salient point regarding the progression of this team and that, in essence, standing still is as detrimental as moving backward.

Dowling will be of course be hot property himself after back-to-back Christy Ring and Joe McDonagh Cup wins and, while you get the sense he would be happy to remain on this journey with Kildare, he seems intent on the County Board matching his ambitions and ensuring that he can put his name on a project that is taking this leap up the ranks seriously. A fact you could hardly blame him for as a half-hearted effort at this jump will send you back where you came from faster than gravity.

“We have gone up to the next level and you could even see before the match the amount of people Dublin have in the background, they have six lads doing stats with seven laptops. We are a world apart from that, but hopefully we get the support now and Kildare can build on a fantastic year,” Dowling explained.

In a whirlwind few weeks, the Kilkenny-native has hailed his backroom team and players at every available moment. He was also of course also quick to acknowledge the seismic gap between themselves and Dublin on the field. The Lilies were hampered on the day by a much-discussed six-day turnaround, two of which were set aside for celebration.

In truth the hurlers face a similar challenge to the Kildare ladies recent ventures up through the divisions and into Senior Championship. The ladies now operate at the top table and are battling to make up ground in terms of experience and S&C, all while attempting to maintain their status among the current elite counties. Nevertheless, it is a wonderful problem to have earned yourself.

“It is a massive step and a lot of hard work has to go in off the field and on the field. When you jump up a level, you have to go up a level in preparation and in everything you do. It’s too early to be talking about it now because the amount of work that the lads did before we even came back training last year was unreal. That is what has to be done again and even more now when you see the level that we need to get to. You see the physique of those Dublin players that is even a level beyond that, but these lads will do everything they can to get there,” Dowling said.

These are crucial conversations and moments for the decision-makers in the days and weeks after such success, but for the players who have given fans and earned themselves so much it is still a time of celebration.

In the aftermath of their All-Ireland SHC defeat to Dublin, they got the send off they deserved. The blue shirts had filtered from the field and the defeated Lilies departed to a bellowing and appreciative applause from a packed Cedral St Conleth’s Park after completing their last push in a season of strength and resilience.

The Kildare boss said of the moment, “That was unbelievable. I said it to the lads there in the dressing room, it is not too often you get a cheer like that coming off the field after losing a Championship game. It was a nice touch from the crowd and that means a lot to the lads. The support that we have got recently has been amazing. Coming back on that Sunday night (from Croke Park) was some feeling. The group together on Monday was absolutely top class and the lads can be so proud of what they have achieved. Dublin was disappointing, but it was always going to be tough.

“Our aim was to win the Joe McDonagh and we have done that. Kildare are in the Leinster Championship next year and that is a great place to be.”

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