Indo Sport
McGuinness on edge, Kilkenny dumped by Dubs & Davy Fitz's exit | The GAA weekend
25 May 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is an Irish Independent Podcast. It is well and truly summertime now lads, it's the best time of the year. Sun is shining, the drama is gripping and Championship is in full swing in the football. Two provincial champions were in action this weekend in the All-Ireland Series and both of them beaten, beaten at home both of them as well.
Kerry smashed again by Donegal, that's now three times they've lost to him in 2026. Massive result for Donegal but obviously a lot happened in that match outside of results so we'll talk about that A bit later. And Roscommon. Connacht champions. They beat Mayo. They beat Galway. Beaten by Tyrone again. And you don't rule out Tyrone. In Herden. Kilkenny are gone. Tipper already gone.
And Davey Fitzgerald is gone. He ends a tumultuous two years. in Antrim with a whimper. Our GA podcast coverage is sponsored by AIB, proud sponsors of club and county. AIB proudly celebrate the joy, dedication and support that lies at the heart of Gaelic games in every community and player across the nation.
We're going to get to Kerry and Donegal and Jim McGuinness and all the slash points there and in Cork. And that's why I've gathered Colm Keyes and Conor McKeown. So we have Colm, Conor and Conor here. Our very own CCC to deliberate over this weekend. And we have to start with Kilkenny because Conor, you were at Parnell Park. The six in a row Leinster champions are out of the whole championship.
And you were there to witness Dublin beat them for what? The second time in 84 years?
Yeah. Yeah. It was one of those days when there's two very big stories there, really. And it was hard to figure out which one was the bigger. Yeah. Like there's no doubt that Kilkenny have have nosedived in the last few years. And the fact that they were even in a position where a defeat.
was going to put them out was Cyrus like that summed it all up but Dublin still had to go and do the business and you know Dublin drew it awfully they had their problems putting Wexford away they conceded a lot of goals at the start of the championship and Dublin went in with a fair bit of expectation around them and traditionally this has not suited them they have found it hard to live up to that
And there's all sorts of historical and cultural reasons why Dublin teams will never beat a Kilkenny team easily. And my sense of it yesterday was that Dublin would have to be five or six points better than Kilkenny to win by two. And I think actually in the end of it, they were about 10 or 11 points better than Kilkenny to win by seven. That's kind of how the game went.
Dublin had total faith in the way they were trying to hurl. That's the big thing under Neil O'Callaghan's reign. You can tell there's total confidence in their system, the way they move the ball, the way they defend. And whereas Kilkenny were trying to play a game that didn't really suit them. And like bar a couple of honourable mentions, they were miles off it.
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Chapter 2: What are the highlights from Kilkenny's early summer exit from the championship?
Right back to the 2022 All-Ireland Final. You remember in the first half, at halftime in the All-Ireland Final against Limerick, they were ahead. They were going really well, albeit there was a wind factor there. But Limerick had to come with what was probably one of their top three or four halves in the John Kylie, one of their best halves of hurling in that second half.
And you remember Dermot Burns, how good he was, but all round good. Like Limerick really went to a high level in 2023. And even in 2024, it took Tony Kelly to ignite late on. And last year there was the confusion over the scoreboard. They were so close to Tipperary who went on to win an All-Ireland.
So every one of the last four years you've pointed out they've been beaten by the All-Ireland finalists. But it was always on the premise, on the basis that they had a very, very strong 15th. And once holes started to appear in that, obviously Hugh Lawler went travelling. A real pillar of that Kilkenny team at fullback. Billy Ryan, who had a really strong year last year, he went travelling.
And you have to say the TJ Reid of the past two decades almost. That wasn't the TJ Reid that we saw this year. Even when you were looking for a spark or something yesterday, he couldn't really provide it. And obviously he's at an age now where most players are becoming managers or coaches of teams.
And he's done remarkably well in his career to stay as long as he had, but he just can't carry them anymore. And they had Adrian Mullen on the bench. So all of those excuses are there. I don't think they'll be reaching for any of them. The fact remains that the conveyor belt in Kilkenny... has really ground to a halt.
Yes, they have players, but they don't have players of the standard that they once carried through, that just kept coming and coming. There's not a Hugh Lawler there yet that improved out of Norway. Hugh Lawler didn't play a minor for Kilkenny, but he became this great full-back. There's no sign of anyone like that so far.
The 2022 All-Ireland Under-20 team that beat Limerick, a Limerick team without Kyle O'Neill.
hasn't really produced any players of any great consequence maybe Aidan Tallis in goals you know he'd probably be the future Kilkenny goalkeeper after one Murphy now but they haven't produced from that team by comparison to Limerick so it is an issue now you talk to people in Kilkenny and the likes of Tommy Walsh and Richie Power who are involved with academy and underage squads and they say at a certain age these players are coming and they're confident about it and even Derek Ling sounded that note of confidence yesterday
But in the short term, I think Kilkenny are down. I think to win six Leinster titles in a row is a reflection on their own reputation, but also on the paucity of the Leinster Championship and those in pursuit, particularly Galway and Dublin, that they didn't manage to get in and break that sequence up before now. But I think in the short term, Kilkenny are in a bit of trouble.
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Chapter 3: How did Dublin's performance against Kilkenny reflect their current form?
But I would say is there's just, there's no point in us doing this unless we follow through in two weeks' time with a proper performance and win the game. So important market, really, really huge achievement, especially for lads in that dressing room who are there for seven, eight, nine, ten years.
But my answer to that question is there's no point in today if we don't follow through in two weeks' time.
And it's good that we have a true blue in Conor McCune on here. You probably didn't invade the pitch afterwards, but that was a great advertisement for Parnell Park, I might add. But one thing, it is an interesting and cool aspect to think of with Calhoun's reign is the Dublin-ness of it all. Like, you know, in the backroom team, he's obviously not a Fianna man.
You had Hooter playing in the Leinster final, you had Micheál Donoghue in charge, now he's back with Galway, but there's a real Dublin-ing into Dublin.
Yeah, no, it's like I wouldn't ever say that having a Dublin man managing the Dublin hurlers is essential because Anthony Daly was proof as to what somebody can bring to that sort of top end of it, you know, where you need experience at the inter-county scene. But I think it is preferable, like whereby there's a viable candidate.
And like the thing about Neil O'Callaghan is when he was appointed, he was on nobody's shortlist. People had not conjured him. It was before Nafina had even won a Dublin championship. And I think the people who appointed him breathed a big sigh of relief when the Fianna went on and won in All-Ireland because all of a sudden he looked like a very obvious candidate.
His entire backroom other than Nigel O'Hara, who's from Kilkenny, the coach who was involved in Kildare before, are dubs as well. You've David Curtin and Donald McGovern from Kilkenny. So it is a very...
Dublin sort of hurling team but look I suppose the conversation about Dublin hurling tends to be quite vague you know people talk about Dublin hurling is this a good day for Dublin hurling and sometimes you just have to separate the wider entity of Dublin hurling from the Dublin senior hurling team Dublin hurling goes on it exists they produce good underage teams there's high participation rates it's strong in areas that it didn't used to be strong they produce strong clubs teams and
But the Dublin senior hurling team has been underperforming for a long period of time. The two, they are in some ways connected, but they're also independent entities. And there is enough hurling going on in Dublin and there's enough talent that Dublin should have been at a much higher level than they have been for the last 13 years.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of Kilkenny's exit for their future in GAA?
Yeah, we also saw Ger Brennan get in a ban for being a bogged management team and Officer G here dealing heavy with it. Are you worried about it? Are you trying to get me banned, Tommy? Is that what you're saying? I'm not, but we all... Well, what are you saying it for, then? Well, it's all on... It's televised, Gillian. It's all here. Okay. So you're... Well, I'm not. I'm asking you.
You're flying that kite, are you? No, it's a pretty straightforward question. No, it's not, really. Can we keep it to the... It's not what we're talking about. It's hard not to talk about it. Well, we are talking about it. You're not talking about the incident. You're talking about the fact that out of 50 people, you're finger-pointing me. Is that what you're saying? I'm not finger-pointing that.
There's 50 people in the pitch there. There's a very clear rule that Gerard Brennan got banned for, and it's minimal interference, which can be next to nothing. Right, okay. And it's obviously quite penal. That's good enough. Well, sure, good. You've done your job, haven't you? You've done your job. Fair enough. You've done your job. You've asked the question you wanted to ask.
Do you think this would have been as big if Jim McGuinness had maybe prepared for this question and was able to maybe play it down a little bit more?
Well, he didn't handle it well. That's very clear. I mean, it's some going that we're not talking about the match first up, right? I know. They won by 10 points. Donegal beating Kerry by 10 points. Their third win in a row over Kerry since the All-Ireland final is a monumental result.
I don't know on what planet you can have Kerry as favourites to beat Donegal again this season, if that comes around. So that's huge. But as regards this, like the ban is... We were all reminded of how penal the ban was when Gerard Brennan got it.
And I don't think there's many people who argued that he deserved to miss 12 weeks and what will end up possibly as seven games, which is hugely penal because there's so many games in the season now, that's a massively penal ban.
But the rule exists and it was applied to Gerry Brennan and he left himself vulnerable to how penal that rule is by putting his hands on the Galway Stretton conditioning coach. That's the bottom line. Jim McGuinness has done the exact same thing. I would not like to see Jim McGuinness banned. The GAA summer is far better for when Jim McGuinness is around.
He's such a big player, maybe the dominant person in the entire Gaelic football summer, which is a huge thing to say. It's a good point, yeah. And if he does get suspended, 12 weeks will be incredibly penal and far, far too big for what he had done in that situation, which was put his hands on Dermot O'Connor, mistaken him for the person who had split Ryan McHugh. But...
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