Link man Ciarán Kilkenny at the core of Dublin’s evolution

When Ciarán Kilkenny turned his back on Hawthorn and life in the AFL there was a natural inclination to rummage through the impressive statement he released at the time and purr over his love of home and hearth.

The Castleknock man detailed his grá for club and the county, for the national games that he had been playing all his life, and he wrapped up the open letter with a line ‘as Gaeilge’ that translated into an adage about far away hills not always being greener.

Given less airplay was a throwaway remark shortly after his return from Australia when he explained that the AFL was “not free-flowing enough” for him. Too stop-start, he said. It seems fitting then that he now plays such a central role in maintaining Dublin’s tempo.