Messiahs lead Cats out of wilderness

In late 2012, Kilkenny camogie chiefs had a big decision to make.

The county had just seen an 18th senior championship conclude without the O’Duffy Cup being draped in black and amber. The promise of an appearance in the 2009 All-Ireland final was in danger of coming to nought.

This, in a county that scooped the title 12 times between the first success in 1974 and the last, 20 years later. That run that included the 1985-91 seven-in-a-row.

Drastic action was required and for Kilkenny, looking outside the county bounds for someone to guide their fortunes in anything involving a hurley and sliotar is just about as drastic as you can get.

Niall Williams and Graham Dillon had something about them though. Williams is a Westmeath native who works as a games’ promotion officer for Dublin GAA. Dillon is a hurling evangelist from Dublin and the pair have worked together with the camogie teams of DCU and UCD in recent years.

They had seen the cream of the nation’s young crop operating at Ashbourne Cup level and noted that what Kilkenny had was equal to any other county. So when they saw there was a vacancy, they felt that a golden opportunity was presenting itself.

“With the calibre of player in Kilkenny, we knew if we could get them all pushing in the one direction, (an All-Ireland final) is what they’re capable of,” says Dillon.

“This is where they should have been. That was the aim at the start of the year, to be (in Croke Park) on September 15. If we’d any other aim, they wouldn’t have bought in.”

The Trinity Gaels clubman doesn’t know why the apparently unrelenting flow of All-Irelands to Kilkenny was suddenly stemmed.

Nor can he explain why a largely young team failed to kick on after their appearance in the 2009 final, won by Cork.

“Myself and Niall only came in this year. We came in, from outside Kilkenny, with a new approach, with no preconceptions. We opened it up to any camogie-playing girl to come in and have a go.

“We had a big response to it, a lot of girls came in. Most are now involved in the intermediate and senior set-ups. They’ve pushed on and got their rewards with a place in the All-Ireland final.”

Kilkenny topped the most competitive group of the Liberty Insurance senior championship with a 100% record before narrowly edging out Cork in a thrilling semi-final at Semple Stadium last month.

They have the best form of the summer, although their opening-round two-point defeat of Sunday’s opponents Galway will have little relevance on proceedings, given both sides’ improvement since.

Tony Ward’s crew vaulted a major psychological hurdle by finally laying the Wexford bogey to rest in the semi-final and Dillon expects Sunday’s decider to go down to the wire.

“We played down in Athenry and barely got over the line in hurricane conditions. Both of us progressed from a very difficult group. They pushed Tipperary aside in the quarter-final, then managed to knock All-Ireland champions Wexford out, without them scoring a point from play.

“They play lovely attacking hurling and it’s going to be a big hurdle for us on the 15th. We were very happy that when things were looking like oing against us with 10 minutes to go (against Cork), the girls showed steely determination. They believed in themselves and they really finished strong. They were proud of themselves the way they dug deep. They know it won’t be easy (in the final) and they’re going to have to dig deep again.”