IAN O'RIORDANtalks to Dublin's full forward who dismisses any notion the county, or coach Anthony Daly are suffering from second-season syndrome

DUBLIN HURLING goes up on trial again this Sunday and both judge and jury are at full attention. On last year’s evidence, progress was indisputable, but the verdict is still out on 2010. The only really convincing result on Sunday will be Dublin beating Laois in Nowlan Park with a little to spare.

After that comes an even bigger judgment day – whoever wins on Sunday gets to play Kilkenny in the Leinster semi-final in Croke Park on June 20th. Dublin won’t need reminding they ran Kilkenny to six points in the Leinster final last year.

Playing Kilkenny again would be the proper gauge of their progress and Laois, therefore, should merely be a stepping stone.

Certainly not a step back.

Yet there are several reasons why Dublin will approach Laois with caution: the last time they met in the Leinster championship, in 2005, Laois won by 12 points; Dublin’s league run went along a rocky road; and there’s always the danger manager Anthony Daly might be suffering from what is sometimes known as second-season syndrome.

Liam Rushe, Dublin’s lively and hugely-spirited forward, reckons Daly’s influence is as strong now as it was when he came in last year. Rushe is a reminder too that Dublin still have significant youth and enthusiasm on their side. You only have to look at his face to realise that.

“We were a bit up and down in the league,” he says, “but I wouldn’t say it’s second-season syndrome or anything like that.

“We’ve had some bad luck and had a few injuries, and still do. Consistency has to be the word for this year. I think we’ve learned that at this level, in Division One, you have to prepare for every game like you are playing Kilkenny or Tipperary.

“Everyone is so close, you have to go out and perform and if you don’t you will lose.

“It’s still a bit of a learning process. But we’re getting more comfortable and we’re getting a lot of experience. All of our young players are used to competing with the top teams.”

As for Daly’s enthusiasm, Rushe believes there is no let up: “You can see it just talking to him,” says Rushe, “he’s charismatic and inspirational. And there is a bit of magnetism about him. He led Clare to two All-Irelands, and maybe he should have had a few more. He really is the man for our present situation. There are serious parallels to be drawn between Dublin and Clare because they came from nowhere to win too.”

Daly’s sole focus this week has been Laois, and convincing his players to give them the respect they deserve. They’ve already beaten Carlow in the first round, by six points, and although they no longer have James Young, the man who hit 1-9 in the 2005 win over Dublin, Laois won’t fear them, particularly as they have nothing to lose.

“We’ll approach it as if we were playing Kilkenny or Cork,” says Rushe. “There isn’t that much difference, it’s a Leinster championship game, everyone is talented. We’ll just get out there, put in a performance and hopefully we’ll come out on top.”

Dublin learned a little about underestimating teams last year, when they went into an All-Ireland quarter-final well fancied to beat Limerick – yet lost 2-18 to 1-17 (although they did inflict some revenge for that when beating Limerick 6-30 to 2-11 in the league).

“It was a terrible disappointing end to last year,” says Rushe, “and a real opportunity missed. What happened was we were so up for the Kilkenny game a few weeks before that we just fell flat. People were tagging us a favourites and I suppose we thought we’d do enough to get us over the line and then we’d raise ourselves for the next match. But that never happened, really.”

Daly, meanwhile, has delayed the naming of his team until this evening, as he awaits a fitness update on forward David O’Callaghan, among others.

O’Callaghan has been struggling with a hamstring injury in recent weeks and may well miss out on selection. David Treacy, who like Rushe has quickly made a name for himself in the Dublin forward line, has already been ruled out with a similar hamstring injury, but on the plus side, full back Tomás Brady and wing forward Peter Kelly have returned from injury layoffs and are now expected to start.