Kildare Boss Not Thrilled By Spurs Comparison After County's Joe McDonagh Cup Win

This afternoon marked a historic occasion for hurling in Kildare, with the county claiming their first ever Joe McDonagh Cup after a 2-26 to 1-19 victory over Laois at Croke Park.

It was a wonderful game of hurling, with a second half blitz from the Lilywhites proving to be the difference. This goal from Jack Travers would prove to be the turning point in the contest.

Kildare would go on to win comfortably, running out as ten-point winners.

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This victory completed what has been a remarkable turnaround for Kildare. Prior to 2025, the county had lost all ten of the fixtures they had taken part in in the Joe McDonagh Cup.

Having won the Christy Ring Cup in 2024, they would ride the wave of that momentum to claim a second successive promotion.

That charge up the hurling ladder has been led by Brian Dowling, with the former Kilkenny player doing a phenomenal job since taking over the county towards the end of 2023.

Speaking on RTÉ after the game, Dowling jokingly batted away comparisons to a recent departed Premier League manager from interviewer Damian Lawlor.

Lawlor: Brian Dowling is with me, otherwise known as Ange Postecoglou, everywhere he goes he wins...

Dowling: Don't compare me to a Spurs manager, I'm an Arsenal supporter!

Not a comment that would be welcome from an Arsenal fan.

Brian Dowling would go on to brilliantly sum up the scale of this achievement for a county such as Kildare.

I'm absolutely blown away by this. I have no words, I just can't believe it.

It's just unbelievable what that group of players has done. Coming back this year we challenged them, we said 'look, this might be possible to get to a final'.

Some amount of hard work has gone in in the background. At halftime we challenged them again, we didn't think the first half was good.

By god, the second half performance, even after giving away a goal straight away and thinking 'what's going to happen', what they did in that second half was unbelievable.

Credit to the players, I'm so happy for them now...

We couldn't wait to get out here. What better place to get out there and show your hurling? We did that, especially in the second half...

I can't believe it. We're out again next Saturday, I don't know what's going to happen there. To think we're in the Leinster Championship next year is mind blowing.

I'm so happy for the people of Kildare. Hopefully there are loads of youngsters looking in and they will be the next lads playing for Kildare again.

Kildare will play Dublin in an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final next weekend, meaning they will not have much time to reflect on this achievement over the coming days.

While it remains to be seen how they will fare in that fixture, there is no doubt that they will enjoy the celebrations this evening.