Former Tipperary star David Kennedy believes that Kildare are “missing a trick” by not pushing hurling more.
Kildare achieved one of their most notable results in decades when beating Wexford in the Leinster under-20 Championship on Tuesday night and Kennedy, who hurled for seven seasons with the county after his Tipp days came to a close, says that the their vast potential in hurling is largely going untapped.
Kennedy wasn’t as taken aback by the result as most, saying: “It is a shock in terms of the traditionalist’s way of looking at it. You wouldn’t expect Kildare to be beating a top tier team like Wexford.
“With Kildare and the effort that they put in at underage especially in the traditional clubs, the likes of Éire Óg and Naas and these places, they’re getting more and more quality players coming through.
“You can see it in the results over the last number of years in the B competitions and the Christy Ring, that they are producing some good players now. Naas is competing in the Kilkenny leagues under-16, under-17, and Celbridge do the same with Dublin.”
However, the former Sallins resident, now living in Thurles, feels that Kildare are “selling themselves short” by focusing largely on one code.
He continued: “I see our own club, Loughmore-Castleiney, play both codes and we mightn’t win every year but we’re competitive in both and it makes for a better GAA club.
“There’s a lot of kids in Loughmore that don’t like playing hurling but they love playing football and so they get the chance to play both and when they progress into their teenage years and young adults, they’re still involved in the club whereas if they had only one option and had to play hurling and didn’t like it, they’re more likely to walk away from sport or walk away from the club.
“I think that’s what Kildare needs to do, what every county needs to do, but Kildare, from my experience, there’s certain parts of the county where football dominates the conversation, dominates the culture of the club and it’s an awful shame because there’s such talent, there’s huge talent in Kildare.
“There’s such a huge population, there’s no reason why they couldn’t be a force in both. That hurling couldn’t be as popular in the county as Gaelic football and the county itself couldn’t be as competitive in hurling as it is in football.
“I know the county board are doing a lot but you feel that Gaelic football will always get more resources, will get more attention, more emphasis and investment than hurling but they’re missing a trick down there by not pushing the hurling, especially in the big urban clubs.”
Kennedy reckons that, within five or six years, Kildare could be “a respected hurling county”.
“There really is the potential to do it. There’s a huge appetite in Kildare for hurling. You look at a lot of the clubs there, there are people that have moved up from Cork, Kilkenny, Galway and there are second/third generation families there with a love of hurling and that’s what I think Kildare hurling is based on.
“There’s a whole new generation there now, massive housing estates there and it’s trying to tap into that resource and to get those people, young people, playing hurling.”
