Leinster Senior Hurling Club Championship final: Cuala (Dublin) v O'Loughlin Gaels (Kilkenny) (tomorrow, O'Moore Park, 2pm, live on TG4)
DUBLIN clubs and the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship don’t really get on.
The county has an atrocious record in the final of this competition. In nine visits, only one Dublin side managed to progress to the All-Ireland series – Crumlin in 1979.
Cuala know that pain all too well having lost out to Oulart-the-Ballagh in last year’s decider, but they are favourites to improve their county’s record when they come up against Kilkenny outfit O’Loughlin Gaels at Portlaoise tomorrow.
Wins in 2003 and 2010 ensure that the Gaels have won it more often than all Dublin clubs combined, and a third success would bring Kilkenny’s figure to 20 overall.
They have earned their corn to get to this stage. Their four opponents – Ballyhale Shamrocks, Rower Inistioge, James Stephen’s and Oulart-the-Ballagh – have 13 Leinster and nine All-Ireland titles between them.
Rower Inistioge – the only one of that quartet without a senior provincial title – have given the Gaels their hardest game of the year as they got to within three points of Aidan Fogarty’s side with the rest of the teams finding them too hard to contain.
Martin Comerford has been leading their scoring charge with 1-10 to date while Mark Kelly and free-taker Mark Bergin have also been prolific.
Workhorse Paddy Deegan has arguably been their best this season while Andy Kearns brings a real solidity to the full-back line.
That Gaels’ defence could face their toughest test yet though against a Cuala side that has really opened up since securing the Dublin title.
They had started their campaign slowly, failing to top their group before needing extra-time to see off Ballyboden in the quarter-final. A 0-13 tally in their semi-final win against Lucan Sarsfields didn’t point to a free-flowing team while they threw away a nine-point lead in the county final against Kilmacud Croke’s before finishing strongly to make amends.
Mattie Kenny’s side have looked much more impressive in the provincial stage though.
They had 11 points to spare against Borris-Kilcotton before going a point better in a comfortable semi-final with St Mullin’s.
Con O’Callaghan, part of Dublin’s All-Ireland winning football side this season, has managed 5-6 from play in those two latest wins while Kenny has an embarrassment of riches across the field.
Those include Mark Schutte, Paul Schutte, Oisin Gough, Darragh O’Connell, Colm Cronin and David Treacy, who provided the bulk of their scores in the Dublin Championship.
One concern is that they haven’t had a solid test in Leinster yet, and there will be questions to be answered when the intensity undoubtedly has to be raised at O’Moore Park.
O’Loughlin Gaels may also have eased through on paper, but Oulart-the-Ballagh did give them a severe test in the first half of their semi-final, so they will have that to call on.
Cuala should be tuned in though following their horror start to last year’s final which saw them trail Oulart by eight at the break.
They will be hoping that a more experienced side takes to the park tomorrow. Fourteen of the players that started last year’s final lined out in the semi-final win against St Mullin’s, so the lessons of last year will be imprinted on their mind as they try to deal with the billing of favourites.
Still, it’s hard to escape the feeling that O’Loughlin Gaels have been the more impressive en-route to this stage.
A Kilkenny side being underdogs is a rarity, but the result should be the same as it usually is when it involves a Cats’ outfit.
