Dublin coaching policy paying rich dividends

BY the time the carnival kicked off in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday, the most significant hurling game of the weekend was already done and dusted.

For the first time in five years - and only the second in 15 - Kilkenny had lost a Leinster minor hurling match. Not to Wexford, not even to Offaly, but to Dublin.

Momentous as it was, the signs were there that it was coming. Three years ago, Dublin ran Kilkenny to within two points in Leinster. Current manager Tom Fitzgerald was involved back then too.