Team News: For the first time this year both Dublin and Laois are going into a hurling match knowing they can win - and probably have to win. Sunday's Leinster championship quarter-final will most likely define their season, because no matter how much they dream about it they won't be challenging for honours this year.
Dublin last won the Leinster hurling title in 1961, and Laois haven't prospered since 1949. The lack of success hasn't been ignored and yet neither county appears any closer to challenging the province's three rulers - Kilkenny, Wexford and Offaly.
Laois's progression hasn't been helped by the rise in the county's football fortunes. Football will always take preference in Dublin, but given the massive population they should still be able produce at least one truly competitive hurling side every year.
Instead, they've slipped further down the scale, losing all eight league matches while struggling to keep their panel intact.
The decline hasn't been through lack of effort, and among those brought in to help address the problems this year was Denis Byrne. The former Kilkenny captain, who also hurled with Tipperary, and is still playing with his club Graigue-Ballycallan, travelled to Dublin several times over the course of the league to offer his assistance. He believes there is a future in Dublin hurling, but part of the solution lies with concrete walls and a green field that can handle the worst of the winter weather.
"Dublin do have some fine players," says Byrne, "and they've trained very hard all winter, probably as hard as anyone. But it's the skill more than anything else that's letting them down. I don't think they'll ever get there unless they truly address that problem."
Byrne was asked to lend a hand in Dublin by Jim Kilty, the speed-training specialist.
"They really need to develop the facilities as soon as possible," Byrne says.
"For a start, I thought they needed to be training on faster surfaces if they really wanted to get up to speed. But if you go down to Kilkenny city and you'll also see handball alleys all over the place.
"I think every club in Kilkenny has a handball alley attached to it. And that's one area where you're guaranteed to improve your skill. For some reason Dublin just don't seem to have developed enough of them.
"You'd build one of the things for about €20,000, because you're really only talking about a few concrete walls. I know Cork have also built a savage amount of alleys over the last seven or eight years. The alley is the place to improve hand-eye coordination, and most intercounty players will tell you they go down there every so often by themselves just to touch up on their skills.
"Laois have been doing some hard work over the winter and they're far from a bad side. I know they've been doing a lot of work in the alley over the league. I saw 15 players lined up against a big hurling wall and tipping the ball away to themselves. That same weekend Dublin were out training in a bog in O'Toole Park."
Byrne points out the problems in a constructive way, because he believes Dublin do have potential:
"They were unlucky not to beat Limerick in the league, and did quite well against Clare, scoring 14 points and missing a few goal chances. But having three or four games over the summer is not the solution either. You have to go back to the grass roots of the thing, because I think that's where the problem with Dublin lies."
"The other thing is in Kilkenny you'll find the youngsters with a hurl in their hand from a very young age. That's the only game they want to play. So of course Dublin need their best players, and can't just blame the management. Humphrey Kelleher won't change it overnight and no one will. He hasn't got a magic wand."
