Sutcliffe: One game at a time now for cautious Dublin

If young forward Danny Sutcliffe is to be believed, Dublin’s hurlers are a much chastened bunch from 12 months ago.

A year ago, and despite having just been relegated from the top tier of the league, they were the team everyone saw as Kilkenny’s most likely conquerors in Leinster, perhaps even in the All-Ireland championship itself.

A showery June afternoon in Portlaoise put a damper on all that, a 2-21 to 0-9 battering and a few painful lessons handed out by the tigerish Cats.