Kilmacud focused on exorcising 2004 demons, reveals Kelleher
It meant that little fuss was made about retaining the Dublin title, selector Robbie Kelleher pointed out yesterday.
"The guys were very focused this year. They were terribly disappointed, not so much with losing to Portlaoise in the semi-final last year, but the way it happened,'' he explained. "When they won the Dublin championship again there was no hype. They just wanted to go out and undo what they did last year and, in fairness, they did just that.''
Goalkeeper Daniel Nelligan, who now has the added incentive of winning an All-Ireland medal just as his father Charlie did with Castleisland Desmonds 20 years ago, agreed that the memory of last year's failure had haunted the players. "Even though it was only a short distance from Carlow back to Dublin, I remember the bus journey took so long. And even though we got a great reception when we got back to the club, we had a sick feeling the day afterwards,'' he commented. "But we vowed that if we got another chance this year we would take it.''
Former Dublin star Kelleher, whose playing career at club level (with Scoil Uí Chonaill) included a Leinster semi-final appearance, gained added satisfaction from seeing his son Ciaran captain the winning team on Sunday against Kildare champions Sarsfields in Navan.
"I was delighted for him because he won nothing all the way up. Now, he has two Dublin championships and a Leinster medal.''
The wind factor had proved crucial, he agreed, reckoning that it was worth at least five points.
"The two points we got before half-time were crucial,'' he said. "We knew they would come back at us in the second half and in the end there was only the kick of a ball between the teams.''
Nelligan, who has only been with the club for less than two years, felt optimistic about the outcome once they had "clicked into gear."
"We led them five points to nil at one stage before they came back at us and the end we were lucky to get the few late scores which made all the difference.
"It was nice to win a medal (after gaining one as a substitute with UCC). They're a great bunch of lads. We have been building for a couple of years. Winning the Dublin championship last year got a monkey off their backs because they had lost in the final to St Brigid's in 2003 and the year before they were beaten by UCD, who went on to win it. This year the bar was raised. It was the first time since 1994 that Kilmacud won the Leinster title. It's a big achievement.''
Other than knowing that they won't be playing in the All-Ireland semi-final until February 17 Ray Cosgrove is getting married the week before Nelligan doesn't know much about the type of opposition they can expect from the Galway champions, Salthill-Knocknacarra.
"We'll enjoy Christmas first. Then we can start thinking about them."
