When Dublin boss Mattie Kenny perused this year’s Leinster Championship fixtures schedule, he would have reckoned on a pivotal game against his native Galway to close out the round robin phase.
The expected victory over Carlow was always going to be enough to keep the Dubs in the running at this stage – now it comes down to what is essentially a must-win game this evening.
A draw could be enough – but only if there’s a nine-point win for Kilkenny at Wexford Park.
Former Galway player Kenny’s reputation has been largely forged in coaching. He was a key part of Anthony Cunningham’s management team when the Tribe won their first Leinster title in 2012 and pushed Kilkenny to a replay in the All-Ireland final.
There was a fracture in the set up thereafter, however, and Kenny later ran unsuccessfully against Cunningham for the Galway job in 2014 and lost out again the following year when incumbent Micheal Donoghue was appointed.
He then enjoyed historic success with Cuala, but becoming the first man to lead a Dublin club to All-Ireland success wasn’t enough to earn him the county job ahead of Pat Gilroy in 2017, though he was appointed late last year after Gilroy stood down, Kenny (inset) having retained the Tommy Moore Cup with the Dalkey outfit in the meantime.
The game is not as critical for Galway this evening after their victory over Kilkenny. If they were to lose, only a draw in Wexford Park would see them eliminated.
But from a Dublin point of view, this tie appears to be a lot less winnable now than it was even a week ago, the 2017 All-Ireland champions having turned in by far their best performance of the year to beat Kilkenny at Nowlan Park after it appeared that they were slipping into terminal decline.
“If that is our standard now, we have to keep raising it,” said boss Donoghue after last Sunday’s one-point victory.
Rediscovering their form is one thing – maintaining and “raising it” through the rest of the campaign is another matter entirely.
But, for now at least, you’d imagine Galway will have got enough of a bounce from last Sunday to carry them past Dublin.
Shane Barrett is available for the Dubs after the CHC quashed his red card from the Carlow game, though John Hanbury of Galway failed in his appeal to overturn a suspension.
