Micheál Donoghue has changed Dublin's hurlers but until they find a way to beat Kilkenny, they will be dismissed as the same old Dublin
Nobody takes the ‘Kilkenny are never beaten’ dictum more literally than Dublinwhen Billy Ryan latched on to Paddy Deegan’s spooned pass in Parnell Park. Referee Johnny Murphy had been strict in his policing of the steps rule all day but found his liberal side just this once, allowing the Kilkenny sub to take seven strides before putting Eoin Cody away. Cody’s finish was lethal as a Navy Seal and Kilkenny were away and gone.
In one sense, it’s not necessarily Kilkenny who are the problem here. Since 2018, Dublin have played in 13 championship matches that finished with a goal or less between them and their opposition. Their record in those 13 games reads: Won 3 Lost 6 Drew 4. Maybe Dublin just have a deep-rooted problem when the pressure is at its eye-popping highest.
There’s a handful of Kilkenny players still around from that replay defeat in Portlaoise – Eoin Murphy, Conor Fogarty, Cillian Buckley, Walter Walsh and TJ Reid were all on the pitch that day. But otherwise, none of the Kilkenny squad know what it’s like to lose to Dublin in the championship. But the Kilkenny players on those sides were from the last remnants of the great team – Henry Shefflin came off the bench in 2014, Jackie Tyrrell was still in the number 4 shirt in 2015. In fact, Cillian Buckley is the youngest Kilkenny player to lose a game in league or championship against Dublin – and he’ll be 32 next month.
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