Kilmacud's Andrew McGowan conscious of battle for hearts and minds in South Dublin

Kilmacud Crokes, the most consistently successful club in Dublin from the early 1990s onwards, are in the midst of one of their intense periods of dominance.

But wing-back Andrew McGowan is always conscious of the battle for hearts and minds of the kids of south Dublin, with plenty of other field sports floating around.

"We do have a sizable club," McGowan tells RTÉ Sport. "And there's a tremendous amount of work that went into bringing people into the club.

"But I also think what retained those people here and not changing to different sports was that as kids, we saw the success of our past players."

The Stillorgan outfit recently collected their 10th Dublin title since 1992 - only their second back-to-back. They subsequently added a sixth Leinster crown and are firm favourites to collect what would be a third All-Ireland title, though a first for this particular generation.

McGowan is a tad young to remember - or rather, wasn't born - their first All-Ireland victory against Bellaghy on St Patrick's Day 1995 but does recall their second triumph fourteen years later.

"After seeing the All-Ireland win in 2009, watching as a kid, you dream of that. That would have helped us hold onto people and say 'it's possible to do that'.

"That's what we hope we're doing now. We've had Leinster success. We've won three Dublins in the last five years. We're hoping that the younger generation are seeing us and the success we're having with this club.

"We're hoping they're seeing what we saw and hopefully will stick around with the Gaelic (football) and the hurling with Kilmacud."

From a long way out, it has been apparent there is an added resolve and purpose about Kilmacud in this club season. Last February, their dressing room was a scene of