Black and amber Goliath not ready to fall

MOSTLY HURLING:Anthony Daly's Dublin have made progress but are still some way short of Kilkenny's standard, writes JOHN ALLEN

SO THE story goes, the Philistine army (Kilkenny) had gathered for war against Israel (Dublin). The two armies faced each other, camped for battle on opposite sides of a steep valley. A Philistine giant (Tommy, no maybe Henry or Eoin or Martin or . . . .) measuring over nine feet tall and wearing full armour (the black and amber kind) came out each day for 40 days (make that a fortnight), mocking and challenging the Israelites to fight. His name was actually Goliath (a fine traditional name for a chap in those days). Saul (read Anthony), the King of Israel, and the whole army were terrified of Goliath (even though they let on they weren’t).

One day David aka Dotsie, the youngest son of Jesse, known locally as Jesso, was sent to the battle lines by his father to bring back news of his brothers. David was probably just a young teenager at the time. While there, David heard Goliath shouting his daily insults and he saw that the men of Israel were afraid.

So David volunteered to fight Goliath. It took some persuasion, but King Saul finally agreed to let David fight against the giant (doesn’t say much for the ‘team’ ethic). Dressed in his simple sky-blue tunic, carrying his shepherd’s staff, slingshot and a pouch full of stones, (substitute 34-inch O’Connor hurley and a bag of Cummins All Stars Sliotars) David approached Goliath. The giant cursed at him, hurling threats and insults. David assured the giant that the Lord (Bertie) was on his side and that he would win the day.

As Goliath moved in for the kill, David reached into his bag and slung one of his stones at Goliath’s head. Finding a hole (no other human had managed to find that hole, the mighty Ger, Richie and even Davy himself included) in the armour, the stone sank into the giant’s forehead and he fell face down on the ground. David then took Goliath’s sword, killed him and then cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. So the Israelites pursued, chasing and killing them and plundering their camp.

Sporting history is littered with victories for the underdog. Remember 1978 and the famous Munster victory over the All Blacks or what about Greece in Euro 2004 who were quoted as 150/1 outsiders going into the tournament and defeated Portugal in the final.

Then there was the Irish cricket team’s greatest cricketing success to date in the 2007 World Cup, where they achieved a tie against Zimbabwe and victories over Pakistan and Bangladesh, and ended the tournament ranked 10th overall in the official ICC rankings, above Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Lucas Glover created a little happiness for a few punters a fortnight ago, as a complete outsider, by winning the US open golf title.

So the underdog does sometimes win.

How many other managers, though, have tried to find that hole in the armour without success? Indeed, the question is, is there a hole in the armour? Is there a chink anywhere?

No doubt Anthony Daly and his management team will have spent many hours trying to identify where exactly that hole is situated. There has been a theory for a while that the full-back line could or should be exploited. It hasn’t happened yet on too many big occasions. Indeed, there are many fine Kilkenny players waiting in the wings to fill any holes that might be found by opposition managers.

I can’t see too many holes, but there will come an off-day (soon?) when the champions won’t fire, or be allowed to fire on all cylinders. But how many die-hard hurling followers want it to happen on Sunday?

No, the honest follower would love to see Dublin putting up a big performance on Sunday, but really he doesn’t want to see Kilkenny beaten until the next game when there won’t be any second chance.

So can this underdog win? Or is this a mismatch? What position do Dublin hold in this year’s order of merit? Well, they finished fourth in the league. They scored 3-15 against the All-Ireland champions in their last league game in April.

Cork beat them in last year’s qualifier game, even though it was a game Dublin could have won. They broke their Wexford duck recently. But really I can’t see anything other than a comprehensive Kilkenny victory.

Then again, the Faroe Islands (pop 48,000) under-21 soccer side did recently beat Russia

(140 million). So maybe the bottom line is, where there’s life there’s hope.

Tomorrow, Laois and Antrim, and Cork and Offaly play the first knockout games of the year. Laois played well for a while in a recent challenge game against Cork, but I think Antrim should have too much craft for them on this occasion.

Cork, reportedly going well in training, will be expected to win in Tullamore, even though the tight pitch won’t suit their play. But no better team to cause an upset than Offaly. They’ve shown quite a bit of improvement since Joe Dooley took over. However, their performance was disappointing against Wexford the last day out.

On paper, Cork have the stronger and more experienced side, but, as we all know, games are won on the day.

The Leesiders’ good showing against Tipperary has done wonders for the team and their potent mix of youth and experience should see them through.