Camogie gave Cats something to cling onto in hard times - Kilkenny manager Brian Dowling

While all the focus has been on one Kilkenny manager this week, another is preparing for a mammoth challenge.

Brian Dowling hurled for the Cats under Brian Cody, winning two All-Irelands at senior level (as well as his pair of U21s) and a League medallion. And he literally did win the latter in 2002, on the day all Cork's starting 15 bar one and none of Kilkenny’s bar one made their 'shirts out, socks down’ protest during the parade.

An hour and a half later, the 19-year-old Dowling scored the last two points, including the match winner, despite only entering the fray as a 64th minute sub, not long after older brother Seán had been introduced and also split the posts.

He would score a fabulous point in the closing minutes of the subsequent Leinster final against Wexford too but a broken ankle slowed his progress and he fell out of favour.

The O’Loughlin Gaels clubman might have a notion of what it will be like for whoever succeeds Cody, whenever succession takes place, having stepped into the vacancy left by another legend, Ann Downey as Kilkenny camogie manager in 2020.

That he had served as a selector and coach the previous year helped, and Downey herself made the initial approach, days after defeat in the 2019 All-Ireland final. There may be another link there, if Derek Lyng or some other former Cody acolyte ascends to the hurling throne – be that this week or in ten years’ time.

Dowling, of course, had a steeper learning curve in that he had never actually been involved with a camogie team when Downey head-hunted him.

"I went in blind, to be honest with you," says the 39-year-old looking back this week. "I had zero connection with camogie when Ann Downey gave me the call in 2019. You don’t realise the effort the girls are