SPORTING PASSIONS IAN DOWLINGWHEN I was growing up I was always playing hurling during the summer and rugby during the winter. It was grand at underage because the seasons never really clashed so I could play both.

As I got older and it started getting more competitive, I had to make a decision as to which sport I was going to keep up.

In the end, I got into sports science in Limerick, and when you're coming to Limerick there's really only one sport you're going to play and that's rugby.

As well as that, my former primary-school teacher is married to Mick Galwey and when I came down to Limerick I gave him a call. He said Shannon would look after me and they had a great track record so that sold the club to me.

I was lucky enough to get into the Shannon team and so I said to myself, "I'm after making great progress so I might as well keep it up."

I got wind of a rugby league team starting up back home in Kilkenny and thought it would be a great way to work on fitness, simple attacking lines and my defence as well. It pretty much snowballed from there.

I played it over the summer with Kilkenny Wildcats and then there was the Irish amateur team. We played Scotland in Navan and England in Clontarf and beat both.

Four players from the amateur team got picked to play for the senior team. I was fortunate enough to get to play three or four games on the wing in the European Championships and we got to play in the European final against England.

There's not so many breaks in play in rugby league and the intensity can be unrelenting. A lot of people can take it for granted but it's a great sport for a simple, attacking gameplan.

It was a great experience getting to play with legends of the game like Barrie McDermott and Mick Cassidy. You got to pick their brains on a couple of things and it gave you a bit more confidence to go on and try to succeed.

At underage level in hurling with O'Loughlin Gaels we had a great little team. I got to play alongside some of the county hurlers like Brian Hogan and in the senior set-up Martin Comerford and Brian and Seán Dowling were involved, and Andy Comerford as well. That was a great experience and growing up I got to play against the likes of Jackie Tyrell and Tommy Walsh as well.

Around 2000 was when I made the choice to play rugby, but I was on the squad when O'Loughlin Gaels got to the first senior county final. That was just a massive boost - the buzz around the club was unbelievable. We lost that final against Graigue-Ballycallan but the second year we won it.

When I was growing up, of the players around my age, you always heard of Tommy Walsh. He has a bit of tradition in the family and he was always a gifted hurler. The other player was Cha Fitzpatrick. I didn't actually see him play at all when I was growing up but I heard of this player "Cha" who was going to be the next big thing in hurling. I suppose he's delivered now with the three-in-a-row.

During the 1990s Kilkenny went through a barren period. They won in 1992 and 1993 but they didn't win again until 2000.

I think that's when Kilkenny decided to really get their act together and set up the underage development panel. That's probably what we're seeing today, that that's all coming to fruition.

A favourite memory was stopping Cork from doing the three-in-a-row in 2006. I'd made a good few bets with some of the lads on the Munster team and I collected on a few of those.

After this year's semi-final, Eddie Keher said how proud he was of the lads and even to be a Kilkenny man at Croke Park that day.

It was the same in the All-Ireland final - they were just unbelievable. They're so clinical and even after the game was over as a competition the style they still finished off Waterford with was unbelievable.

There are four players now that are within two All-Irelands of Christy Ring's and John Doyle's record of eight All-Irelands - Eddie Brennan, Henry Shefflin, Michael Kavanagh and Noel Hickey. I don't see why that record can't be beaten but it all comes down to the players themselves and their mental focus, if they can keep it going.

The average age of the panel is young enough to physically do it and they have the ability to do it. Hopefully they can because it's an absolute joy to watch this team.