Ryan O’Dwyer hoping there will be no repeat of Croker drubbing

Sunday’s Division 1 semi-final may be in Kilkenny, but that’s where Ryan O’Dwyer wants to leave the references to the reigning league and All-Ireland champions. 

“It’s gas, when Kilkenny aren’t playing, everyone still harps on about Kilkenny. It’s a league semi-final and I’m sure, as much as they’d want to win this, the year is still young and they have other things on their mind. The fact that Kilkenny aren’t in it, there’s four teams left and we’ve one team to deal with and that’s all we’re focused on.”

Yes, the Dublin forward would much prefer to talk about Cork instead of you know who. “You’ve two teams that just want to go out and play. Cork are all fantastic hurlers and they just want to go out and hurl, they don’t want to drag you down to a certain level or defend. It’s all-out hurling.