Cats don’t scare defiant Dotsy

THERE was a time, not so long ago, when if Dublin were meeting Kilkenny in a Leinster final (as they do in Croke Park this Sunday), any interview with a Dublin player would contain the obligatory mantra — “Kilkenny are a great team, great players, great achievements, daunting opposition”.

Well, not this Sunday, not in this interview with Dublin’s David ‘Dotsy’ O’Callaghan.

Yes, there’s respect, but there’s something very different about the Dublin hurlers this year, about their approach. It’s not about the opposition anymore, you see, it’s about themselves.

“People can say what they like about Kilkenny this Sunday, good or bad. I don’t worry about it. The one thing we did at the start of this year, we decided to focus on ourselves, on trying to get the best out of ourselves; that’s how we’ve operated all year and we’ll be doing the same this week — train away, get the best out of yourself, then hope that will be good enough to get the win.

“It’s obviously a huge challenge, but, as a group, this is what you want; the big games, that’s what you look forward to all year, and this is a big game.”

Even when it comes to the specifics, the guys who are likely to be marking him — Jackie Tyrell, Noel Hickey, Michael Kavanagh, three legendary figures on their own, the modern-day version of Hell’s Kitchen — he doesn’t want to know.

“I don’t want to be talking about the Kilkenny full-back line, to be honest — they have their job to do, we have ours. Everyone is tough at this level and those three have I don’t know how many All-Ireland medals. They’ve been great, but look, I don’t really give a damn to be honest, we don’t really give a damn about anyone else at this stage, and that’s no disrespect to anyone.

“This year we’re just worried about ourselves, no point in going on about Kilkenny. They’ve won everything, hugely respected in hurling, but we’re coming up now, we have a good squad together, and we’re trying to challenge — you have to look to yourself.”

And looking at Dublin 2011, it’s not just a massive change in attitude that has so far seen them beat Kilkenny in two finals — the Walsh Cup and the Allianz Hurling League (Dublin’s first national title since 1938) — there is also the change in personnel.

An odd stat from their Leinster final meeting of 2009 — of the six Dublin forwards that started that day only one, Dotsy himself, is still in situ. David Treacy is working his way back from injury, Liam Rushe is now in midfield/centre-back, but the likes of Conal Keaney, Ryan O’Dwyer (suspended for this Sunday’s Leinster final after a straight red against Galway), Conor McCormack, Peadar Carton, Paul Ryan — none of those guys started in 2009. That’s some turnaround in two years.

“I’m hanging in there!” he laughs. “A few years ago we were struggling for forwards but now there’s great competition for places, an exciting time — great to have that.”

One of the most striking of the newcomers (in every sense — top-scorer) is corner-forward Paul Ryan, and yet, Dotsy explains, he’s not really a newcomer at all.

“Paul is there since 2008, played against Cork in a qualifier — he came on and knocked over two great points from play. I don’t think his skill has ever been in question, and everyone in Dublin hurling was aware of his free-taking ability with Ballyboden St. Enda’s. His record is top-class, absolutely phenomenal. Now, the whole country knows it. He had been hanging around the panel for a few years, but this year he seems to have decided to step it up. He’s doing the business now and he’s not the only one — the more lads who are raising their game, the better.”

Dotsy himself has also stepped up a gear this year; long a scoring threat, whether at corner-forward or on the edge of the square, many times this year and even in the considerable added presence of Conal Keaney and Ryan, he has been Dublin’s ‘go-to’ man. There is a determination about his play, a confidence, the hallmark of a Shefflin or an Eoin Kelly. About time.