CAPITAL PAINS

Humbled on the big stage, Dublin hurling now faces a pivotal next season where they kick on or fade away

- KARL O'KANE

ON a weekend embroiled in scoreboard controversy and growing Cork hype, Dublin hurlers were largely forgotten.

They're well used to that and on this occasion they might well be happy with it too.

You'd wonder what the Dublin players are thinking today - and will be tomorrow, next week, next month and in November when preseason training starts again.

Whatever way you look at their season, what happened to them in last Saturday's All-Ireland semifinal was cruel - and more significantly, one hell of a body blow.

To concede seven goals in any game is never good. But to do it in the last four of the All-Ireland, with the eyes of the nation on you, is far worse.

All the pundits will say they made great progress this year, as if it's a given. It's not.

The reality for Dublin is that they were 16 points behind Kilkenny before mounting a comeback that got it back to two points at one stage. But you should never be 16 points behind in a Championship game.

Tipp hit Kilkenny for four goals last weekend, three of them in the first half, but they kept responding and the deficit never got any bigger than five points.

That's where Dublin have to get to but that's far easier said than done.

Building that level of resilience - and those reserves of belief and inner confidence - to respond to setbacks is a long and painstaking process.

They dismissed Kildare with ease and their All-Ireland quarterfinal win over Limerick was magnificent - one of the greatest shocks of all time.