'For 70 minutes, I'm a Kildare man' - Kilkenny legend poised for clash with Cats
Derek Lyng's Kilkenny will take on Brian Dowling's Kildare in round four of the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship at UPMC Nowlan Park on Saturday, May 16 at 6pm
Kildare senior hurling manager Brian Dowling admits there will be no divided loyalties when he leads Kildare into UPMC Nowlan Park this weekend, even if the Kilkenny native expects some uncertainty in his own household over who to support.
The former Kilkenny hurler is preparing to take on his home county in the Leinster SHC on Saturday evening after watching his Kildare side push Galway all the way in a thrilling championship clash at Cedral St Conleth’s Park.
Despite suffering a third straight defeat, Dowling took huge encouragement from a performance that saw the Lilywhites build a 10-point lead against the Tribesmen before eventually losing out to a late Galway surge.
“When I took this job, I didn't think I'd be heading down to Nowlan Park taking on Kilkenny,” Dowling laughed afterwards.
“I said it after the Walsh Cup game. I'm a true Kilkenny man. I'll always be a Kilkenny man. For 70 minutes, I'm a Kildare man.
“I don't know whether my family will be supporting me or Kilkenny. I'm not sure what jersey my young lads will be wearing.
“We need to get points on the board. For that 70 minutes, it's all clear for me. I'll do everything I can to make sure that we try and get something out of that result in Nowlan Park.”
Kildare certainly earned plenty of admirers with their display against Galway. Dowling’s side tore into the Leinster table-toppers from the throw-in and led by 12 points approaching half-time after a blistering opening spell.
“I suppose we had this feeling again after the Wexford game, it was very similar,” said Dowling.
“Happy enough with how we competed but disappointed that we didn't get anything out of it. At half-time we were in a brilliant position.
“I thought our first 35 minutes were probably the best we've played since I've been involved. Just everything we asked the lads to do, they did as the letter of the law.”
Dowling revealed Kildare’s approach was always going to be aggressive against Micheál Donoghue’s side.
“I said it during the week to the lads that we're going to throw everything at Galway and see what happens,” he explained.
“We're not going to stand up and admire them and just look at them hurling because they'll drill balls around, they'll run off the shoulder.
“They're a class team, you have to get in their face and you have to try and upset them.
“Everyone was right for us in the first half and in the second half, we dropped balls we would normally secure.”
Galway’s bench strength eventually proved decisive, with Thomas Monaghan making a major impact after coming on to score 1-4.
“When you're playing a team as good as Galway, you know they're bringing brilliant lads off the bench,” said Dowling.
“Thomas Monaghan comes on there and he scores 1-4. That's what you're dealing with and they just upped it big time.
“We fought to the bitter end but I suppose just the classic Galway toll through there at the end.”
Still, the Kilkenny man believes Kildare are making major strides despite sitting pointless after three rounds.
“We've seen what Galway have done to other teams this year. We went toe-to-toe with them. We definitely had them worried there at half-time,” he said.
“We're probably trying to close such a gap in such a close space of time and compete against top teams.
“It's incredibly harsh when you look at the league table and you see zero points next to our name.”