Dawn of a new era or just a false dawn for hurling?

Saunter around Croke Park before throw-in on match day and you will invariably come across photographers and cameramen harvesting some of the tribal colour with shots of fans funnelling into GAA Headquarters.

Now and again, they tend to be joined by the odd journalist too. All-Ireland finals are a favourite forum for ‘meet the fans’ pieces but last Saturday saw one Dublin radio station undertake a vox pop asking some of the thousands there to cheer on the capital’s footballers if they would be making the return trip for this weekend’s All-Ireland hurling semi-final when Cork will once again be the opposition.

The responses, by all accounts, was mostly of the negative variety. Dubs, it seems, can’t wait to throw on a Vodafone or an old Arnotts jersey and roar on the likes of Bernard Brogan and Ciarán Kilkenny but their small ball counterparts have yet to capture the imagination in quite the same manner in the capital regardless of their heroics under Anthony Daly and the prospect of a first All-Ireland since 1938.