Preview: Lilies firm favs to lift Ring Cup again

We've been down this road before. Several times in fact since the Christy Ring Cup came into vogue in 2005.
Kildare have won four Ring Cups, the first when defeating Kerry, a Kildare team captained by Niall Ó Muineacháin, back in 2014.

In 2018, captained by Naas man Brian Byrne, The Lilies defeated London and Brian captained Kildare again 2020 when he lifted the Cup after defeating Down in the final.

And the Naas man was once again team leader when the Christy Ring Cup came to Kildare again in 2022, this time defeating Mayo in the final.

Brian Byrne opted out of hurling action with Kildare in 2024 and threw in his lot with the senior footballers.
So five final appearances and four wins sees Kildare top of the honours list when it comes to Christy Ring triumphs.

Meath have been in three finals, winning all three while on the opposite side of that Derry, Kildare's opponents on Sunday, have also made it to three Ring Cup finals but have yet to lift the trophy, their last final appearance was just last season when they lost out to Meath by two points, 1-23 to 1-21.

In many respects, from a Kildare point of view these days, winning the Ring Cup may not have the same 'shine' it did heretofore, certainly from a Kildare point of view, but what it does do is guaranteed Tier 2 championship action come 2025 and a place in the Joe McDonagh Cup.

Having won the Ring Cup back in 2022, Kildare played in the Joe McDonagh Cup but never really made their mark and they, and new manager Brian Dowling along with his players, are very anxious to get back to that level come 2025. However to do that they must defeat Derry on Sunday, a team they defeated back in April in the same competition, winning 2-19 to 0-18, a game played at Manguard Park.

Kildare were installed as firm favourites, not to just to make it through to the this weekend's decider but to go all the way and lift the Cup once again.

Will that 'burden' of being hot favourites have any detrimental effect on the team we asked manager Brian Dowling last week.

“I don't think so” said the Kilkenny man, adding “at the start of the year Kildare were favourites; the last few times we were in the Christy Ring we won it; we look at each game differently; we prepare the very best we can, we look at ourselves, we look at the opposition, we don't really look into who is favourites that's for other people to decide that but if we don't perform on Sunday we will win nothing.

“We played Derry a couple of weeks ago in Hawkfield, the first half was a brilliant performance from our lads, the second half wasn't but we have now to put together two big halves to ensure we come out on top.”

As already stated Derry have been in three finals lost all three so certainly there will be no shortage of hunger from the boys from the north?

Brian quickly responds, “there will be no shortage of hunger hunger from our lads; we want to get back up to Joe McDonagh level, that is where the players feel they should be operating, this has been our aim from Day 1 since I came to Kildare, this is our no. 1 aim.”

Kildare, of course, won the pre-season Kehoe Cup, before the league started an it was one of those league games that manager Dowling felt things were starting to come together.

“The Laois game was the start of the turn in our season while the Down game when we came away with something emphasised that improvement.”

If we were to lose that game (away to Down) it would have been three losses in a row, not good, so to go up to Ballycran against a very good Down team, very hard to beat but we put in an excellent performance, unlucky not to win it but after that we finished very strong in the league; very positive but the Laois game was the start of the uplift and then that point in Down.”

The manager added that from an injury point of view it has been a tough season, no shortage of injuries, Johnny Byrne out for the entire season but we try to improve every game we play; we have played well at times, disappointing at times but it is all about putting 75 minutes together and that is what we have to do on Sunday; have to ensure our Christy Ring final is the best performance of the year, added the manager.

That Christy Ring Cup clash with Sunday's opponents was one that targeted and target big time, very anxious to put down a marker.

“We target that Derry game; if we had lost that it would have had to go to London and win, never an easy place to go; Derry have a lot of experience, both at club with Slaughtneil and the county, as I said earlier we played particularly well in that first half, not so well in the second but we won and that was the main thing.”

A few of the U20s came into the senior set-up once their campaign ended and they have certainly added to the squad.

“U20s came back into the senior squad such as Daniel O'Meara, Cian Boran and James Dolan have put their hands up; Cian and Dan would probably start any day they were available; James Dolan came in out of nowhere; came in for a challenge game last November and really impressed us; brought him on to the panel; a really great lad; got his first start against London; got a great goal in the second half a very important player for us now.”

Injury-wise Dowling expects both James Burke and Cathal Dowling to be available for Sunday's big game. “It will depend on how they perform in the next week or so but we are hopeful that they will come through; we probably could have risked them against London but we decided not to do so and that gave them an extra fortnight, so hopefully they will be available, we need everyone, we need a full panel to chose from.”

That game against London was one of the most competitive games of the year and manager Dowling is hopeful that it came at just the right time, “a great game to have a couple of weeks before the final and hopefully it is a game that should stand to us.”

Throw-in on Sunday in Croke Park is at 2.15 and hopefully Kildare get a big following to urge them on.