Four years’ work comes down to this for Daly’s Dubs

Since the provincial hurling championship draws were made, every hurling fan worthy of the name has had this date pencilled into the diary.

True, Dublin had to get over a Leinster quarter-final but that was never in doubt and they duly hammered Laois off the park a few weeks ago.

And yes, there was also a league to be played and Kilkenny duly confirmed their continuing rude health with yet another title (their sixth in the Cody era and please, let no one underestimate the significance of those wins), while injury-hit Dublin were relegated.

In the context of this game, however, none of that matters.

This is Anthony Daly’s fourth year in charge of Dublin and every year there’s been progress. Last year the Allianz Hurling League was won, the first national title for Dublin’s senior hurlers since 1939; the side went on to reach the All-Ireland semi-final but without several key players it proved just a bridge too far.

This year then it was always going to be about championship, about progressing in Leinster, progressing in the All-Ireland series.

On both counts, standing four-square in Dublin’s way is Kilkenny. This game, then, was always going to be huge.

I hope referee Barry Kelly has the good sense to stand back from this one.

For four years Daly’s Dublin have been building themselves up for this, and I mean that in a literal sense — they’ve been bulking up, hitting the gym, piling on the iron by the hundredweight and the muscle by the stone, to match up physically to Kilkenny.

Now they need the license to use that muscle.

On the skill side too, Dublin have been improving — it hasn’t been all gym and no play. Daly knows, Kilkenny are about far more than just physically imposing themselves on the opposition. Everyone of them are hurlers to their fingertips. They are so like the mighty All Blacks in the way they approach the game. They’ll hit you as hard as they can as early as they can as often as they can as close to the edge as they can but the instant an opening appears they become the rapier who can slice you to pieces.

And here is where they’ll have the advantage this afternoon.

Unlike so many teams over the past decade Dublin will not be bullied by Kilkenny, even in the confines of O’Moore Park. After the dust has settled they may, however, be simply outscored, though not by much.

* Verdict: Kilkenny