A third county football final? It wasn’t supposed to be like this but Conal Keaney isn’t complaining.

The Leinster Council have a lot to answer for.

Watching the Dubs heading down the home straight yesterday was like watching the Grand National when you had 20 quid on some nag at long odds and you were just wishing it to fall over the line.

ALLIANZ HL DIVISION 1A:

Dublin 2-25 Galway 2-13

The Dublin hurlers may have had the edge on Wexford in their previous two meetings this season, but David 'Dotsy' O'Callaghan knows that Championship hurling often brings out the best in the men from the sunny South East.

Dublin and Kildare took Bord na Móna Walsh and Kehoe Cup hurling honours respectively this afternoon.

IT WAS off-hand comment and revelation, both at the same time.

Anthony Daly says his Dublin side will have to come up with something special to stop the 'machine' that is reigning All-Ireland champions Tipperary.

CONSIDERING the past couple of days, never mind yesterday’s achievement, it was understandable Anthony Daly was a little emotional afterwards.

IMITATION, it’s said, is the sincerest form of flattery and on Sunday old Kilkenny meets new Kilkenny in the Leinster SHC final. Yes, it’s the Cats versus the Dubs, but when the high-profile Kilkenny players take up their positions, they’ll be looking at a mirror image of themselves.

THERE was a time, not so long ago, when if Dublin were meeting Kilkenny in a Leinster final (as they do in Croke Park this Sunday), any interview with a Dublin player would contain the obligatory mantra — “Kilkenny are a great team, great players, great achievements, daunting opposition”.

WE have three hurling games this weekend with Cork, Laois, Dublin, Galway, Tipperary and Clare in championship action.

WHEN Dublin beat Cork in the final round of the Allianz Hurling League, there was a little group of the defeated supporters who joined the Dubs on the field in celebration of qualification for their first league final since 1946.

Dublin 2-22 Clare 0-15

FOR a brief spell over the off-season, it looked like the balance of power between football and hurling in the capital might tilt in the latter code’s favour.

Dublin’s hurlers are sweating on the fitness of five of their players ahead of their Leinster SHC final clash with Kilkenny next month.

DUBLIN hurling manager Anthony Daly hopes injuries sustained in his side’s win over Wexford in the Leinster SHC semi-final last Saturday clear up before they play Kilkenny in the provincial decider, but there isn’t much time for recovery.

LIKE the gale force wind at O’Moore Park, Dublin huffed and puffed for three quarters of this Leinster championship opener before finally blowing Westmeath away.