IT'S BODEN WELL

Cup champs steeled for future

- By GARRY DOYLE

IN A sport obsessed with what just happened, Ballyboden spent last night talking about what comes next.

Another Leinster title in the bag, another statement win delivered, and yet their dressing room wasn't lounging about admiring medals.

Instead, there was the unmistakable hum of a group who know the real road only begins now - longer journeys, tougher venues, bigger days waiting over the horizon.

If winning Leinster used to be a destination, for this Ballyboden squad it feels far more like a checkpoint.

Not arrogance - simply the mindset of players who understand that their potential might stretch past provincial borders and deep into January. And if you want to know why, you only need to listen to their Galway star, Cein D'Arcy.

“You probably can't understate it?” he said, asked about the value of the Dublin championship as preparation. “You are playing brilliant teams. It is a hard championship to win. You are road-tested. It is always going to stand to you.”

But even battle-hardened teams meet the unknown. Leinster this year wasn't routine; it wasn't a box-ticking exercise for a familiar cast.