PREVIEW: Kildare ready for another crack at The Dubs in league opener

The Kildare hurlers have their first foray into a year of hurling that will see them tackle some of the game’s very best this weekend. After a first round bye in the league, their campaign begins against Dublin on Saturday, January 31 with a late visit to Parnell park for a 7:30pm throw-in. It will be one of their toughest games in Allianz National Hurling League Division 1B as they take on last year's All-Ireland semi-finalists and a team that beat them 3-25 to 0-13 in 2025, albeit under very particular circumstances. The glamour tie of their league campaign comes in Round 4 when Brian Dowling’s men welcome 2024 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions Clare to Cedral St Conleth’s Park.

So how are The Lilies shaping up ahead of an incredibly challenging and in equal measures exciting year? A win over Division 1B colleagues Antrim in the Walsh Shield won’t have hurt their confidence any with The Lilies coming from behind to win with the last play of the game. A wet, windy and, as many put it, ‘dirty’ day in Manguard Park was superbly navigated as Kildare bounced back from the concession of two goals early in the second half to beat Davy Fitzgerald’s men. That victory set up a clash with Brian Dowling’s native Kilkenny in the Walsh Shield final and The Lilies gave an excellent account of themselves against Leinster champions of the last six years.

The Cats finished that game with nine of their All-Ireland semi-final starters from last year and Kildare’s battling performance was a heartening one ahead of this campaign. Unbelievable graft was paired with fearless competition for possession as well as plenty of class from the likes of Gerry Keegan and James Dolan. Perhaps under-reported from that game was the absence of key Kildare players like James Burke, Simon Leacy and the 2025 Joe McDonagh Cup top-scorer David Qualter. In the vein of returning stars, Conan Boran got his first minutes in well over a year and will be an invaluable addition to the Kildare set-up when full match ready.

Kildare were absolutely brilliant defensively against Kilkenny and, while it was most certainly a collective effort, special mention must be made to their outstanding full-back line of Liam O'Reilly, Rian Boran, Dan O'Meara. With a long list of exceptional forwards set to come at Kildare throughout 2026, those three men and all in front of them will have to maintain that level of dogged defending and deft dispossessions.

Dublin
The boys in blue beat Kildare six days after the Joe McDonagh Cup final last year, but the real headline of their year was causing one of the biggest upsets across all intercounty action by beating Limerick 2-24 to 0-28 in last year’s All-Ireland SHC quarter-final. Dublin led by three at the break and later responded to going behind with goals from John Hetherton and Cian O’Sullivan to emerge as shock victors.

Unfortunately for The Dubs, their hopes of first All-Ireland hurling final since 1961 were quickly dashed in a semi-final spanking at the hands of Cork. The Rebels put up an eye-watering 7-26 to Dublin’s 2-21 in a 20-point walloping. It was an unceremonious end to their 2025 campaign but there is no denying the strength of this Dublin team, particularly in the context of their approaching Division 1B campaign.

Brian Dowling’s men face a Dublin side who have come through Round 1 with a narrow 3-18 to 1-22 defeat to Clare away from home, but who will fancy themselves to pick up a first win here on their own patch.

Dónal Burke top-scored for The Dubs against Clare with 0-11 (0-9 frees) while Brian Hayes grabbed 1-3 from midfield. It’s one of Kildare’s toughest tests to come but, having already had a good look at Kilkenny, they will be raring to get stuck in and this should make for a great contest if they can bring the same intensity and fire they showed against The Cats.

Dublin have enormous strength and will be rightly favoured for victory in this fixture but this is an exciting prospect for the 1B newcomers who can put everyone on notice with a big performance in competitive action against a top team.

Key to that performance will be the return of some injured bodies for the league opener and Brian Dowling issued an injury update before Kildare's first AHL game.

Dowling said, “We are down six of the team that started that (Joe McDonagh Cup) final. David Qualter is now very close and Darragh Melville is just coming back from a hamstring injury. James Burke unfortunately did his cruciate in the last play of the Joe McDonagh Cup final but he's doing huge work behind the scenes and will hopefully see a bit of game time in the league but won’t be ready for the start of it.

“Cathal Dowling is just about back, Simon Leacy is back but we didn’t want to risk him (against Kilkenny) because he was only building things back up. Richie Hogan is not too far away as well so we do have a couple of niggles but we weren’t going to risk anybody for the Walsh Cup. We hope to have a few bodies back for the Dublin game.”

Targets
Brian Dowling and his team clearly have huge belief in what they are doing but damaging defeats do exactly what they say on the tin and remaining competitive in most of these league fixtures will be a key part of maintaining momentum in the face of major challenges and likely a couple of losses.

The first standout game in the quest for survival is home to Antrim on February 8. Antrim are a fine hurling side but, with a win over them earlier in the year and this game being at home, Kildare will be targeting picking up some perhaps previously thought unlikely points in this game. Davy Fitzgerald’s squad will travel to Newbridge ready and motivated but this could be a huge injection to Kildare’s season if they were to pick something up in their second game.

The Lilies travel to Ballycran for Round 5 of the NHL on March 1 to battle fellow 1B newcomers Down whom they faced twice in 2025. Kildare came up short in the Division 2 league final but put in a magnificent showing in the Joe McDonagh Cup to win 1-26 to 1-14, although things are always tougher with Down on home soil. The need to beat your fellow newcomers in a fresh division goes without saying and Down will be similarly eyeing this fixture as a place where they could pick up points.

A week later, on March 8, Kildare will face Carlow at home in yet another must win clash. The Lilies beat The Barrowsiders 2-23 to 1-20 last year in what was then considered a Joe McDonagh Cup upset. In the midst of their magnificent surge to McDonagh Cup glory, Kildare toppled Carlow in some style but expectations will certainly be different this time around. There will be no element of surprise here but there will likely need to be a similar result if Kildare are to stay up.

With all that said, first things first is Dublin, away from home and under the lights. Talk of future targets and survival will all fade away as the Kildare hurlers’ tackle The Dubs on January 31 at 7:30pm in Parnell Park and get their 2026 season properly under way.

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