By
Brendan Boylan

Some time ago, this columnist commented on the commendable progress made by the Dublin hurlers in recent years and the manner in which that progress has continued and, indeed, been built upon over the course of the current National League campaign.

It doesn’t happen very often, so it is very pleasing when one’s opinion turns out not only to be accepted but also shared by other more eminent view holders in the commentary sphere.

Writing about the progress made in Dublin hurling at a time like this may seem a little ironic given that Anthony Daly’s side most recently suffered their opening defeat of the spring campaign against Galway. However, given the results they had achieved up to that point, they must be regarded as the team of the league as far as the top division is concerned. Limerick probably occupy a similar position in Division Two when one thinks of where they were at when Donal O’Grady took over.

The strides both counties have made are not dissimilar in some ways too. Granted, in the case of those from the Treaty City, many years have passed and a lot of water has gone under a lot of bridges since the halcyon days when three successive All Ireland U-21 titles rested by the banks of the Shannon, but, with peace having broken out down that way and many top class players from the era returning to the fold, the results are beginning to speak for themselves.

There was none of the Shannonside turbulence by the banks of the Liffey but the similarity between the two tales lies in the fact that the Dublin resurgence can be traced back to a fairly hefty investment in their underage structures, probably monetary and otherwise. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Players like Oisin Gough, Joey Boland, Johnny McCaffrey, David Treacy, Liam Rushe, David O’Callaghan and even Conal Keaney all graduated from talented Minor and U-21 teams and now form the nucleus of the Senior outfit.

Doubtless, they will have been bitterly disappointed to lose to Galway. Especially given the manner in which it occurred – thanks to Eanna Ryan’s last minute strike for John McIntyre’s team. Such are the minute margins between success and failure at the top grade that that reversal could end up costing the sky blues a place in the Final that looked quite likely up until that point.

If it turns out that way it will be something of a hammer blow because – with the greatest due respect to the Walsh Cup – it would herald another reasonably decent chance of major silverware gone a begging. Apart from the fact that Leinster hurling needs Dublin and as many other counties as possible to be as strong as possible, given the propensity that exists to remove managers from their positions if they don’t deliver concrete success in the form of silverware, this could justifiably be seen as a pressure and even crucial season for Daly in terms of his managerial future. To my mind, it is imperative for Dublin to hold onto the Clare man for as long as they can. That’s a story for another day though.

In other facets of life, there has been much talk recently about copying the Dutch model of certain things, well, it wouldn’t be too difficult to come to the conclusion that the Tyrone model has been the benchmark for many when it comes to putting in place structures to allow things to prosper. The same can be said of Kilkenny in a hurling sense. Down there exists a massive emphasis on the underage structures. Rightly so too. It is that work alone that ensures the conveyor belt of players moving which in turn enables them to continue to compete – and by and large dominate – at the highest level.

Dublin’s investment in their structures has obviously paid off – albeit not to the same extent as the two other counties mentioned – but things are certainly going in the right way. Things look distinctly darker in other places and that they are must be of grave concern to all those involved in hurling and supporters of the sport.
The route to success has been mapped out by the likes of Tyrone and Kilkenny. Those road signs are there for and need to be heeded by everyone. As with any other walk of life, failure to follow best example will result in those who do not row in with the proven method being left behind. Hurling cannot afford to have any other counties falling behind and becoming uncompetitive.

And it is the fact that the sport cannot afford another drop in competitiveness that makes former Wexford stalwart Liam Dunne’s assessment of his county’s current plight all the more stark. Now, although it will not sit well down there, on Slaneyside, they are used to playing second fiddle to their neighbours from the banks of the Nore.
In recent years though, the trend has become worryingly predictable: at best, Wexford manage to get over the likes of Dublin (and sometimes didn’t even) before meeting the Cats at some point along the road and getting well and truly mauled as the gap between the sides seems to ever widen.

Dunne’s honing in on the fact that the Model County had not won a Leinster MHC since the 1970s is not insignificant. The seriousness of these underage shortcomings were masked to a degree by the fact that they were able to call on the services of players of the calibre of Damien Fitzhenry, Liam Dunne and Larry O’Gorman and George O’Connor and Martin Storey and Larry Murphy and Tom Dempsey and Billy Byrne.

Not surprisingly, many of those old stalwarts drifted into the sunset once they had collected autumn gold or shortly afterwards. Those losses were offset somewhat as the likes of Rory McCarthy and Garry Laffan and Paul Codd and the Jacob brothers became the backbone of the team.

Most of those have moved on now and those that do remain continue to clock up ever more mileage. Diarmuid Lyng and Darren Stamp are rightly seen as the standard setters in the purple and gold now but, no more than with a single one, two swallows never made a summer either.

To be frank, the dearth of players coming through owing to the underage drought Dunne alluded to has meant that Wexford have slipped to as low a position as can be recalled in my lifetime or as many more senior observers can remember either. This sad reality for a very proud hurling county became all the more obvious recently as their defeat to Offaly in the NHL almost certainly condemned Colm Bonnar’s side to life in the second tier for the early part of 2012. And, of course, long before 2012, if they do end up going down in the weeks ahead, one can only think of the destructive effect it will have on what must already be fragile confidence in the county heading into the Championship season.

Perhaps the greatest reflection of just how low an ebb things are at in Wexford lies in Dunne’s contention that there’s not even much talk about hurling in the county. Such a scenario is almost unthinkable in a place that has always been a stronghold of the small ball code. It would be almost akin to football not being on the agenda in some of the counties that are traditionally to the fore in that sport.

At a time like this though, there needs to be lots of talk of hurling in Wexford. Action will of course be required to put the structures in place to ensure that players begin to emerge who can end the underage drought. Before that even however, something needs to happen to alter what looks a very grave situation.

Do not think that it is a case of this wordsmith putting Wexford hurling down. Far from it, in fact, Damien Fitzhenry, Larry O’Gorman, Larry Murphy and Billy Byrne will forever rank very highly on my list of hurling heroes. However, Liam Dunne’s contention that his county could quite easily end up playing in the Christy Ring Cup was a little bit of a shock and an eye opener as to how things stood down there.

Doubtless, the view will be that the only way is up. The entire county of Wexford and indeed all of Gaeldom will be hoping that such will b