Donal Burke and Na Fianna bidding to spoil Kilmacud Crokes' double-double hopes

Donal Burke and Na Fianna are preparing for Sunday's Go Ahead Dublin SHC final

It is somewhat surprising that a club of Na Fianna's stature has never won the Dublin Senior Hurling Championship.

But the Glasnevin side have been knocking on the door in recent years, and are bidding for their bit of history on Sunday afternoon.

Indeed, this group will be kicking themselves that they have not already achieved the feat. In 2021, they led Kilmacud Crokes by nine points with 10 minutes to go. But they were unable to hold on, falling after extra-time.

Sunday offers them a shot at redemption, taking on the Stillorgan club once more, and looking to deny them the second consecutive hurling-football double.

"Obviously at the time, it was a tough one to take," Donal Burke reflects on last year's final.

Burke knows the 2021 decider was one that got away

"We took the Christmas then, and we had the league starting then. Once the games started back, it's a new kind of journey. Different lads come in, different players are there. You just have to move on and you can't be thinking about the past the whole time. We just started a new leaf, turned over a page and we just went at it this year again then."

Becoming the first Na Fianna side to win a county senior hurling crown would be quite the achievement for both the players and the club as a whole.

"It would mean a lot now," Burke commented.

"It would probably mean more to the club than to us. To me, it would be to win it with my friends. Lads I grew up with, that would be the most satisfying thing for me.

"But the bigger picture, I'd say it would mean a hell of a lot to lads like Jimmy Gray who founded the club, he's still coming to all the games. Even the coaches, growing up all the people that were involved with my age group as well.

"The old teams, the people who are up on the wall that are still helping out with the club, cutting pitches and are still involved. It would mean a hell of a lot more for them. That would be a big motivation for us."

Na Fianna have been a coming force in Dublin hurling for a number of years, after they claimed five Dublin minor titles in the space of six years, as well as three in a row at U21 level.

"I'd be very good mates [with the other players], so that's probably the biggest joy," said Burke, noting the bond forged in the team.

"Then for us, having to gel, chemistry there. That's more of a joy, to play with your good mates. Obviously because we have that chemistry, we're able to feed off each other when we're all quite close in Na Fianna, we all grew up together.

"When we left the underage set-up, personally, I found it a big jump from underage to senior, so it took us a few years to find our ground, but we're happy to be competing and I think that's what we grew up doing. We just love competing for the titles and we're delighted to be back in the position to compete again."

The host of young stars on the team were complemented by the arrival of Liam Rushe, after the two-time All Star transferred to the club.

"Massive, massive addition," Burke said of his intercounty team-mate.

Liam Rushe has bolstered the side

"He was probably one of the best to come out of Dublin, he was probably one of the best in the game so when you get a player like that it's a massive addition to any club.

"He's a natural leader. When things are going bad like [against Cuala], he was probably man of the match at six, when things were going bad he was coming out with some unbelievable catches and some big plays. He's a born leader on and off the pitch. We've quite a lot of young lads on our team so he's someone to look up to. It's a big role."