Three All-Ireland medals to his name, you can be pretty sure Ciarán Kilkenny does not regret rejecting a career as a professional athlete.
After starring for both the Dublin minor hurlers and footballers in 2011, the Castleknock phenomenon headed to Australia and a rookie contract in the AFL with Hawthorn.
Every Dublin fan rejoiced when he decided against returning to Australia after a trip home for Christmas. Dublin football had lost and found a special talent in the space of four months and he looked nailed-on to become an integral part of the senior football set-up.
Not that it has all been a land of milk and honey for the trainee teacher, as he shipped quite a lot of criticism this summer for his changing role – dropping deeper, he appeared to be slowing Dublin’s game while simultaneously denuding his own attacking threat.
Less pointing, more driving forward https://t.co/GlAlemhVc7
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) September 24, 2016
Too much hand-passing and too little decisive kicking – either passing or shooting – had many fans of the supremely talented Kilkenny scratching their heads.
He delivered a much-improved performance in the All-Ireland final replay. While the 23-year-old did not score himself, he played much closer to the Mayo goal and gave the killer pass for Dean Rock’s opening score.
On this week’s GAA Hour former Dublin player Senan Connell said that keeping Kilkenny closer to the Mayo goal was a priority for Dublin forwards coach Jason Sherlock during the first-half.
Working as a sideline reporter for Sky Sports, Connell observed the hero of 1995 cajoling and ordering the forward not to drop back.
“This was extremely pointed in that first half, we were right down by the wall watching. Jason was manning the technical area and he was in and out to the forwards the whole time.
“He was into Kilkenny and he was [telling him], ‘Up the park, up the park! Back to your position!’ In the first half. He did go deep in the second half when he was needed.
“Every time Kilkenny got the ball, instead of going backwards, which he is notorious for, he was eyeballing his man. It was a clear change in tactic,” said Connell.
“You ask me what did Dublin work on in the two weeks, there you go, that is what they worked on. Ciarán Kilkenny gets on so much ball, they need to get more of a result out of everything. At the end, is the net result going to be a score out of this?”
It was obvious Jim Gavin this year tweaked Dublin’s gameplan and moved away the swashbuckling attacking approach of 2015, and Kilkenny’s role within that was one of the changes, but their tactics in the replay would suggest that those changes were not permanent.
The man who turned his back on Australia is guaranteed to have a big role to play again in 2017.
The GAA Hour pays tribute to the unbeatable Dubs and ask where did it all go wrong for Mayo in the All-Ireland final replay. Listen below or subscribe on iTunes.
