Dublin must contain Kilkenny star TJ Reid, says JJ Delaney
By JJ Delaney | Twitter: @jjdel82 |
Last Updated: 11/06/16 5:54pm
Saturday marks the start of Sky Sports GAA's coverage of the hurling championship and while the build-up has been quiet, the meeting of Dublin and Kilkenny is a game I'm really looking forward to.
Kilkenny were beaten in the league semi-finals by Clare and I presume it gave them an opportunity to get back to training and get their house in order.
We have had club matches played in the past three weeks in Kilkenny and while Richie Hogan picked up a hand injury in that local competition and misses the Dublin game, it is the club championship that allows our form players to make their way onto the squad.
But that's for another day. My first piece of analysis centres on Dublin and how changed they are from Anthony Daly's tenure.
A good start is crucial for Dublin
The Ger Cunningham stamp is all very well but Dublin simply have to start well in this game.
Ger has his own mindset on how the game should be played and he is going with younger players, but you can also see that their physique has changed too and they have the power and pace to deal with the running, possession game.
Their team has changed a lot over the past two years and their recent U21 win over Wexford will give those young players huge confidence. The average age must be about 23 now and at that age you have no fear; you just want to play game after game.
The first 10 mins will be huge for Dublin. They must stay in there.
JJ Delaney
But despite all of that, it is still the first 10 minutes which will be huge for Dublin. They must stay in there. They are an accomplished team with some serious forwards but for me it's all about sticking in the game for the opening period.
You could see it in the Laois and Dublin football game that Sky Sports showed last weekend - it was all over after a few minutes. This one is about making the underdogs seize the opportunity that they have, and they have to dig in from the start.
David Treacy reflective of Dublin's new-found steel
Players like Eamon Dillon, Dotsy O'Callaghan and Niall McMorrow are in fine form but so too are Mark Schutte and David Treacy.
I like what I see with Treacy since he has been handed the responsibility of taking frees. When you are on the frees in a game it means you are more involved. In the past David would get a few scores, but he seemed to come in and out of games. Now, he has to be fully tuned in all the way through and that's after crowning him.
It also means that Paul Ryan, who has dropped to the bench, is made to work harder to get his place back. That leads to more competition for places.
Paul was never known for getting a huge amount of scores from play but David is doing both and it has helped that his club, Cuala, won the county championship and did well in Leinster too.
Kilkenny carving their own identity - again
Ger Loughnane has called them average, which I don't agree with by the way, and the rest of the country is talking about how they are not as strong as Kilkenny teams of the past. Yet, I would make the point that this team is forming its own identity.
Five or six of us retiring last year gave the boys huge motivation just to show that they were more than a three to four-man team. And last year they showed that they had their own ambition.
I don't think that will change just because Loughnane said what he did. Any time you win an All-Ireland you deserve it. It does not come easy. They can only get their own house in order and that's what they will have done in the last four weeks.
Kilkenny got a kick in the backside when they lost to Clare and better to have got that kick a few weeks ago rather than on Saturday evening in Portlaoise.
Kilkenny club scene is still fuelling this team
Many clubs agonise about lack of matches and no games during the peak time of summer but the Kilkenny lads had a few rounds of club championship to play and it has opened the door for a few of them to return to the county panel.
Mark Bergin is back in after impressing with O'Loughlin Gaels, Ollie Walsh from Dicksboro - a former U21 - is there too and there are opportunities there for them.
Of the starting six forwards from last year's team we have Richie Hogan and Ger Aylward injured. Richie Power has retired, Mattie Ruth and Mark Kenny have both dropped off panel but this has given others a chance and it is up to them to show the form that caught Brian Cody's eye.
Dublin must contain Reid
You could see Dublin putting a man-marker on TJ Reid with Liam Rushe dropping back as a sweeper.
If Richie Hogan was there Dublin would have two marquee forwards to look after but TJ will now have to be expecting to be double marked. He will have Dublin lads in his face all the way through and that will be hard for him.
Richie would have taken a lot of that focus off him - Richie drops into pockets, moving around from position to position and he's hard to track. But Eoin Larkin comes back and he has been hurling well with his club. Eoin is class and people don't realise the work that he does, so they'll have to watch him too.
We should have enough to win, I think. The last time Kilkenny played they got a warning. I think they'll have heeded that warning. The back door is no place to be this year with Clare there.
Dublin: C Dooley; E O'Donnell, C O'Callaghan, O Gough; S Barrett, L Rushe, C Crummey; D O'Connell, J McCaffrey; D Plunkett, N McMorrow, D Treacy; M Schutte, D O'Callaghan, E Dillon.
Kilkenny: E Murphy; P Murphy, J Holden, J Tyrrell; P Walsh, K Joyce, C Buckley; C Fogarty, L Ryan; W Walsh, M Fennelly, TJ Reid; J Farrell, C Fennelly, E Larkin.
Watch Dublin v Kilkenny live on Sky Sports 1 HD on Saturday from 6.15pm. Catch the match for £6.99 with a NOW TV day pass.
