It has become something of a new blood sport - feasting over the Dublin hurling 'carcass'.

The vultures were circling even before Ger Cunningham's (mostly very young) men wilted in the face of Galway's patent supremacy - physical, scoring and ultimately numerical - almost five weeks ago.

One 14-point defeat later, the Leinster dream was dead and those same vultures were descending on top of their prey.

Would Dublin have the heart, let alone the hurlers, to seek 'back door' redemption?

But then last Monday, their luck started to turn. They were drawn against Laois in round one of the SHC qualifiers. Given some of the daunting heavyweight alternatives, it couldn't have worked out much better.

Especially when, for once, Dublin were handed a home draw. A welcome change from Páirc Uí Rinn last July. Or Ennis last April. Even if it's for one night only (tomorrow, throw-in 7pm) Parnell Park can become a fortress once more.

The way Liam Walsh explains it, the Dublin selector's chief concern as he tuned into Morning Ireland wasn't the prospect of being paired with a Tipp or Waterford. "Personally I was just really hoping for a home draw," he clarifies. "Last year we got a challenging enough draw, straight after the Kilkenny game, to go down to Cork.

Acquitted

"And I thought we acquitted ourselves quite well and were very unlucky not to get a result, just with the sending-off and all of that.

"And then even in the (Division 1A) relegation play-off, we got drawn down in Ennis. In this situation, after the Galway match, I was more hoping for the home draw rather than who the opposition would be."

Walsh's own county career coincided with a time when Dublin couldn't take anything for granted against Laois.

So the merest hint of an invitation to consider a round two qualifier the following weekend receives a predictable, "Oh no way!"

He expands: "In my mind, any game you go out to play is a 50-50 game and you have to perform if you want to win. If you don't, you lose - simple as. And that's the way it's going to be on Saturday evening. We'd be very foolish to be looking beyond Saturday evening; I think that would be crazy."

The trouble for Dublin, in recent months, is the dearth of 50-50 contests. Since ambushing Cork away in February, they have lost five on the spin by a cumulative 36 points.

The most recent two were the most damaging. An eight-point play-off defeat to Clare saw them demoted from the league's top flight.

Then that Galway trimming in Tullamore fanned yet further criticism of the massive player upheaval on Cunningham's watch, between retirements, defections and others cast aside by management.

"There's a toxic cloud hanging over the Dublin hurling panel at the moment," wrote Brendan Cummins in his Irish Independent column.

Walsh's rebuttal may be predictable but it's unwavering. "I don't want to be OTT on it but really … it's unfounded. It's not the situation at all," he insists.

The principal of Gaelscoil Naomh Pádraig in Lucan goes on to defend the Dublin hurling class of 2017. "The group that are in there, playing for Dublin, are very united," he proclaims.

"Sometimes I find it a little bit disrespectful towards the group that are in there. I mean, there are some really good hurlers in there. Granted, a lot of them are young. But there's serious talent there and they really are going to flourish in the next couple of years, no question about that.

"You just have to give a few of the young lads a little bit of time. Just give them a chance. It's the way forward for Dublin."

Briefly harking back to their Leinster exit, he accepts that the performance didn't scale the heights required to match "one of the strongest" teams in the Liam MacCarthy race.

"Obviously the sending-off (of Cian O'Callaghan) didn't help, but I would never take away from the fact that Galway were in the ascendancy at that point," he concedes.

But whatever about beating Laois, is it a season too early to expect miracles from so many Sky Blue greenhorns?

"Well I wouldn't say that," Walsh counters, citing Cork and Limerick as two counties who have embraced youth this summer, to particularly stunning effect on Leeside.

"So we are not alone in this. I think the game has changed and it is kind of more suited to a younger type of player. The modern game now is so much about pace, speed and agility, on top of the skill levels.

"People keep relating back to the team that had success in recent years. But time moves on for everybody. There's a new group there now with emerging talent - and you have to go with that. It's the right thing for Dublin hurling."

He concludes: "I would appeal to all hurling supporters to come out and support the team because, contrary to what it may have looked like against Galway, this group are very united and together and they're training very, very hard. And they've really put a huge effort in since that disappointing day out against Galway."

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