Comment: Kildare and Dublin in Kilkenny and the busy ice-cream truck at Nowlan Park!

The man in the ice-cream truck just inside the entrance at Nowlan Park on Saturday, was one of the busiest folks in the stadium, on and off the pitch.

“Six 99s” roared a fella in a blue jersey in as thick a Dub accent as you could get, quickly adding “I hope yez are not rippin' us off with your bleedin' prices down here.”

He got no reply to that query but seemed happy as he handed out the 99s, flake included, to his fellow travellers.

Nowlan Park, it has to be said, is one of the finest stadia around. Very friendly folk too with facilities second to none. A press box where we were greeted by none other than former Uachtaráin Nicky Brennan with folk constantly enquiring if everything was alright and if we needed anything.

Could Nowlan Park be considered as a 'home' venue for the Allianz Football and Hurling Leagues comes 2024 for The Lilies I wonder to myself?

Maybe not due to the distance, but certainly for every other reason it would fit the bill.
While The Dubs did not travel in big numbers, they certainly had a bigger following than The Lilies.

Asking one of the stewards what was the attendance like as we entered, he replied “very disappointing” adding “you know one of the reasons for this game being played here was that Croke Park estimated an attendance at some 23,000. The official count came in at 8,216.

So where have all the fans gone?

Did The Dubs decide Kilkenny was too far to travel for a game they were expected to win despite the closeness of the earlier meeting between these sides?

As for the Kildare following, well the real die-hards were spotted throughout the stands and terraces but the luke-warm ones decided to sunbathe in the back garden or head to the beach.

A long weekend, finance also comes into play here; tickets are not cheap; a family of four or more would certainly take care of a few 'bullseyes' fairly rapidly and with games coming thick and fast that is very understandable.
And so we awaited news of team changes.

The 'dogs in Brophy's' were barking Kildare would have two, which proved correct, again.
As for Dessie Farrell's boys well we were informed prior to the official announcement, that Dublin would have three with Cian Murphy, Ciaran Kilkenny and Paul Mannion all out.

Interesting I say to myself.
Then as the ball was thrown in a further change when Cormac Costello was ruled out.
Silly thoughts came to my mind.

We might have a squeak here; no Jack McCaffrey; no Kilkenny; no Mannion; no Costello — three of the finest forwards in the game missing, along with the injured Doc.

We got under way spot on the button of five bells and the opening quarter or so was point-for-point. In fact after 17 minutes we were all aboard at 0-5 apiece. An opening quarter that saw both defences being opened somewhat easily.

The Lilies threatened Cluxton's goal but the attempt lacked pace, power and accuracy as the man who came out of retirement had little bother clearing his lines.

Then suddenly the Dub supporters, small in numbers by their standards but a lot healthier than their counterparts in Brady Family shirts, began to sing as they witnessed their boys cut holes in the Kildare defence with consummate ease.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven — all within seven minutes — putting them in the clear.

Lovely to look at if you were a Dub but if you were of Kildare persuasion, it was jaw-dropping, disheartening and to be honest, extremely disappointing.

And while The Lilies did come out of their late afternoon nap to hit back with three of their own they still found themselves five adrift at the break.

The ice cream man was as busy at the break as Con O'Callaghan had been in that opening period when he fired over four points, many with not a sight or sound of a white jersey close by.

Glenn Ryan stood on the sideline looking somewhat shell shocked while Anthony Rainbow could only look at the ground, seeking inspiration no doubt.

A couple of changes, hardly unexpected, if the personnel changed left one scratching one's head somewhat.
Off we go and within minutes The Lilies were showing signs of coming back to life, for a second time in the afternoon.

A couple of points from a man who mixed some top class play with, shall we say, some indifferent contributions, but nevertheless Ben McCormack had cut the lead back to three all on his own and within two minutes at that.

But The Dubs, possibly taking a bit of a break for some sun-bathing took charge again; restored their five point lead that was eventually to head close to double figures but eventually coming to an end with a difference of nine.
And with scoring difference most probably going to decide who plays on or whose season comes to an end in two weeks time, nine points was a fair gap.

(As it turned out the following day nine points was one less than what Sligo lost to The Rossies so Kildare lie in third spot, just one point better off than the boys from the west in the black shirts).
We head to dressing room, Kildare's that is; Dublin refused to use the away changing room, we were informed, citing the facilities were too small (that's what comes with playing all your games in Croker) and instead used facilities under the main stand.

Glenn appeared.
Not a happy chappy.
And that's putting it mildly.
Shell-shocked.
Angry.
Disappointed.
Annoyed.
Furious.
Call it what you like.

We felt we had our tactics right for the day, he said; the same tactics he confirmed that saw Kildare get so close to Dublin in the Leinster semi-final.

But tactics, the manager admitted, that were not brought (for some reason) on to the immaculate playing surface of Nowlan Park.

Struggling to explain what had gone wrong; work-rate, or lack of work-rate, was cited but really the explanation(s) were not overly convincing or conclusive.

Asked that while the finger was being pointed at the players, did the management have questions to answer, he said “ there is no one harder on themselves than myself and the management team; but this is a collective, it's players, it's the team; it's everyone involved and everything we do good or bad reflects on everybody.”

For a man that led Kildare for a long time with courage, passion, belief and confidence, one has to say none of those qualities — necessary qualities if success is to be gained — were evident on Saturday and not for the fist time on this voyage.

Bumped into Eoin Doyle as we head for the wheels.
His assessment?

“You get what you deserve in this game, no point in saying anything else” adding “we are where we are and we have to realise the position we are in; that's about it.”

Lilies on life support, for now anyway.
One opportunity left to stay afloat.
Sink or swim.
S--- or get off the pot.
Collectively!

And to top it off, our ice cream friend had packed up and gone as we exited, so no 99 for yours truly.
And we thought the day couldn't get any worse!