Cats ready for a true capital test

DIFFERENT day, different grade even, but Kilkenny’s mission this evening will be much the same as it was in Croke Park two weekends ago – add another Leinster title to the stockpile and, at the same time, frustrate Dublin’s growing ambitions.

Richie Hogan will be the only member of Brian Cody’s panel involved tonight at Parnell Park but the youngster’s time spent at the underage grades illustrates perfectly the new realities in the province.

Since his first year as a minor in 2004, Hogan has been testing himself against Dublin teams on an annual basis and, if they have come out the right side of the result more often than not, there has rarely been much in it.