KILMACUD CROKES’ DUAL train is showing no signs of slowing, as their hurlers aim to join their footballers in reaching a provincial final.
Such a feat would hand Brian Sheehy a significant headache, given that both Leinster finals are set for the same afternoon at HQ.
A peripheral football panelist for much of the season, Sheehy was thrown into the mix last Saturday against Portarlington, and contributed a point late on.
Leinster GAA’s decision earlier this year to host their club senior finals in both codes as a double-header did not factor in such a potential clash, but it is one that is looming large for the dual star.
Given the logistical challenges associated with the modern game, Sheehy and indeed both sets of management teams would be left with a welcome yet nonetheless significant headache.
For Kilmacud’s small ball fraternity, victory over St Mullin’s on Sunday would represent another first as they eye a maiden provincial decider.
Only Crumlin (1979) and Cuala (2016, 2017) have won the Leinster Club Hurling Championship as Dublin representatives, and the Stillorgan side will be hoping to join that group.
Crokes’ forays into the province have been largely forgettable up to now.
2012 saw them edged out by Oulart-the-Ballagh by a single point. Two years later, they fell victim to the Ballyhale Shamrocks juggernaut.
Twelve months ago, a shock defeat at the hands of Clough-Ballacolla sent them hurtling from the province.
Memories of a Stephen Maher tour de force on a miserable December night in Portlaoise would have haunted them throughout the long winter months, as they were left to ponder what might have been.
While there was a reluctance to label the tie as a revenge mission in the build-up, this year’s meeting with the same opposition was exactly that. At this time of asking, Kilmacud took care of business with all the ease that was expected in last year’s contest.
But those demons are not exorcised just yet, as they aim to fully do themselves justice on the national stage.
“For us, as a club, we’re heading to where we want to be, continuing to develop,” manager Kieran Dowling said after the Leinster quarter-final win earlier this month.
“This year, we’re back-to-back hurling champions for the first time in our history, so that allows you to build on the work you’ve done last year, so the last three weeks we’ve done nothing else but prepare for the challenge of this – how do we beat them (Clough-Ballacolla)? We just worked relentlessly to get ready for them.
“It’s taken us years to get this far, and we’ve worked relentlessly at improving our skills, and we’re back to Croke Park now, it doesn’t get better than this. And what is the best version of ourselves that we can be, that’s all we ask.”
One interested viewer in the club’s winter odyssey is undoubtedly Micheál Donoghue. With the former All-Ireland winning boss with Galway taking over the capital’s flagship hurling team, he will be looking to find more quality for the county set-up.
On evidence of club form, Dara Purcell and Davy Crowe are among those who could feature prominently in his reign in the coming years, while the performances of the more established cohort of Ronan Hayes, Fergal Whitely and co will have impressed the Tribe native.
In recent years, Crokes may have gazed across the southside suburbs with envy as Cuala stormed to successive All-Ireland titles, after they were pushed all the way by their purple and gold-clad neighbours during the Dublin SHC.
And perhaps the Dalkey side showed their rivals what is possible.
But Kilmacud know through the pain of 2021 that there is nothing easy outside of the county, and that no opposition can be taken for granted, not least Sunday’s opponents St Mullin’s of Carlow, who have previous when it comes to upsetting the odds against Dublin sides.
Croke Park plays host to the contest, as they go where no group of Kilmacud hurlers have been before.
The Glenalbyn club will know the identity of their potential final opponents before they take the field, with Naas vs Ballyhale acting as the curtain-raiser.
But the warm-up act will be far from Crokes’ minds on Sunday. They have learned the hard way to take one step at a time. And this weekend, they will be bidding to step into unknown territory.
Should they clear Sunday’s hurdle, then and only then, will they start worrying about a provincial crown.
And the tug-of-war between Robbie Brennan and Kieran Dowling for the services of Brian Sheehy can then get underway.