If Dublin’s rapid return to form in the Allianz Hurling League has surprised anyone – sitting nicely atop Division 1A, quarter-final berth already assured – then it’s clearly not defender Oisín Gough.

“It’s funny, when things are going well they don’t talk about us as much,” says Gough.

“It’s only when things are going badly. So we don’t focus on that. We only focus on playing a best we can.”

Still, last Sunday’s victory over league champions Waterford in Walsh Park defied most expectations. Dublin’s 14-point defeat to Tipperary in the opening round left an air of uncertainty over where their form was. Yet Gough himself was never unduly worried. Nor has anything necessarily changed in the weeks since to explain that rapid to form.

New year

“I don’t think we’ve changed anything dramatically. We just didn’t show up on the day against Tipp, whatever happened, mentally,” he says.

“I think it was a new year, some names had left, but once we started performances back to back, I think what you’re seeing the last few games from us is more normal. That’s the level we think we’re at, and it’s just about consistency in our performances.  For whatever reason over the last few years Dublin have been able to produce very good displays, and then other days they don’t show up. We’re just trying to keep that consistency, so maybe it’s just a mental blip.

“But there’s a good mood there in the camp and lads are very honest, but there was nothing too harsh said, it was just ‘lads, come on, let’s get back up there and get some consistency going’ . . .”

Now, even with a quarter-final place assured, Gough sees the chance to further underline that consistency with Sunday’s trip to Nowlan Park. Playing Kilkenny is a challenge the players relish, he says.

“We just like the challenge and we like to put ourselves out there against the best team in Ireland over the last few years and give it everything we’ve got and see how we finish at the end. Traditionally, people say we’re still not a hurling county, even though the lads growing up have played at the highest level. We know how good we are.

“All of us were pretty successful growing up. At senior, the likes of Kilkenny over the last 10-15 years have been incredibly successful but we’ve won a National League, we’ve won a Leinster senior title. The vast majority of the team has multiple underage Leinster titles so it shouldn’t annoy us. We know how good we are as individual players and then as a team. On our day, we’re as good as anybody that we play.

Work rate

“Our focus is on work rate. We have a game plan, and it’s mainly about using the ball, trying not to hit aimless balls on the back foot, only to see them return. We try to work the ball around the park, keep possession, get scores throughout the game. So it’s less swashbuckling hurling than people are used to, and more workmanlike, and methodical.”

Part of Gough’s current appetite for hurling may be explained by the fact he took a season out, last year, to concentrate on his studies. It doesn’t surprise him that more players are doing likewise (Jack McCaffrey, for example).

“It’s a question that lads are going to start asking themselves over the next 10 years, I’d say. What do they want – do they want a career for life or do they want to achieve and be as best they can on a hurling or football field.

“I think it’s a personal decision. I do think more and more guys will be making the decision earlier.”