Dubs look to continue work in progress

ANYONE from Dublin and of a superstitious nature should look away now.

Those who believe in the cliche about how forgetting the lessons of history dooms you to repeat it would do well to pull up a chair.

It’s late August, 2005 and a perfect day for hurling in Nowlan Park. For once, a Dublin hurling team was travelling to Kilkenny’s back yard more in expectation than hope. Limerick were the opponents and the prize at stake was a place in the All-Ireland minor final.

The Munster side hadn’t adorned that stage in the grade for 21 years but there was only room for one fairytale story in the weeks leading up to the fixture. Dublin’s wait was 12 months longer at that point but it seemed as though their time had come, that hurling had its feelgood story.

Kilkenny had won the Leinster title 14 times in 15 attempts but their reign of terror was ended at the semi-final stage by Tom Fitzpatrick’s side and Dublin earned their reward by beating Wexford in the final.

As Fitzpatrick admits now, Dublin rocked up to Nowlan Park that day feeling impregnable. Their confidence had ballooned even further after watching Limerick struggle past Antrim in the quarter-final.

“It was on in Parnell Park and we all went along,” Fitzpatrick explains. “Antrim were brilliant. Outstanding. They were picking points off from all angles and we all thought we would be playing them in the semi-final. Then Limerick got a late goal, just in off the framework.

“We still prepared well and we were confident of winning the semi-final but, fair play to Limerick, they played better and deserved it. We gave away a lot of frees and the lad they had taking them was brilliant. He got them from everywhere.”

When Tommy McIntyre blew the final whistle, Limerick had three more points on the board and Dublin’s memorable breakthrough year was over.

Tomás Brady, Joey Boland, John McCaffrey and Shane Durkin played that day and all four will be on duty again tomorrow. What must they have thought when watching Limerick scrape past Laois in Semple Stadium last weekend?

Though the memory of that day in Nowlan Park remains, so too does the season, one they ended in credit. The defeat of Kilkenny was the big one.

“That semi-final was hugely important because we hadn’t been tested against them before then. We had already beaten Offaly and Wexford in the group stage and we knew if we could beat Kilkenny we would face Wexford again in the final.

“That win was hugely significant. It was a landmark occasion. We were the first Dublin team to get to and then win the Leinster minor final in 23 years. We had been building slowly for nearly 10 years but this was proof that Dublin were doing it right.”

Through Dublin’s darkest days there was a core of people, families and clubs shielding the flame from the elements. The idea of development squads first began to flicker in the mid to late 90s. The man usually credited with the birth is John Murphy who had captained Dublin to their last minor All-Ireland final in 1983.

A fellow Crumlin man, Jimmy Boggan, jumped on board too. The latter’s imprimatur was important. Boggan was known as Mr Hurling in Dublin circles and it was a sad day when he passed away this year.

The first development squad stepped gingerly onto the playing fields in 1997. Fitzpatrick was picked up in time for the third group at U14 level, the one that would ultimately lead the charge out of the doldrums.

Sessions were held in summer and winter, rain or shine, and the result was that the players’ touch and general skills improved at a rate of knots.

“Those squads are central to where Dublin hurling is today,” says Fitzpatrick. “People thought you could just wave a magic wand and everything would work but it doesn’t work like that. What we are seeing now is the result of a lot of work by a lot people.”

Much has been made of the money poured into Dublin hurling in recent years, and there is no doubt that it has helped enormously but the Leinster Council was funding similar programmes in the rest of its territories at the time too, if not to the same extent. Counties met at underage levels across the province for underage tournaments year after year and it was here that the psychological barrier created by the sight of Kilkenny, Wexford and Offaly jerseys was first broken.

It has been onwards and upwards since. The Dublin Colleges claimed an historic Dr Croke Cup title in 2006. A minor and U21 double followed a year later with Brady, Boland, McCaffrey and Durkin to the fore yet again with the latter.

Great times seem assured but Fitzpatrick already has a bank of memories of times past.

“The way they responded to everything we did was just sensational. They took everything in and they were great fellows too, not just great hurlers. They were well reared, lovely lads and their time coincided with the county board getting more involved.

“A bit of extra gear started to come through, a pair of shorts here, a jersey there. We never got the suits for the All-Ireland final but it was building up nicely. It’s funny that they are playing Limerick again this week because it is a momentous game.

“They need to win it to maintain the momentum, to keep it going.”