Byline: PAUL KEANE
DUBLIN'S awesome pulling power could ensure the first Championship sell-out of the summer -- in hurling.
Provincial chiefs are privately speculating that a 27,000-capacity crowd could turn up for the Leinster SHC semi-final between Dublin and Kilkenny in Portlaoise.
The tie is already creating a buzz among both sets of fans with Dublin now viewed as genuine contenders to lift the Liam MacCarthy trophy.
Anthony Daly's side hit the Cats for six goals in the National League and, just last weekend, hammered Laois by 22 points to set up the tie.
'That's what it's all about,' said Dublin centre-forward Danny Sutcliffe of potentially drawing a capacity crowd. 'That's why you train and turn up on winter mornings and evenings.
'As far as I'm concerned, the more the better, it certainly doesn't matter to me. We are just going to go out and perform and stay detached from all of that. 'Once we perform we'll be happy to look up and see what the scoreboard is like at the end.'
Sutcliffe will line out against another Laois team tonight on Bord Gais Energy Leinster Under 21 Championship duty.
But the Kilkenny tie is the one that naturally excites him, especially since the return of cruciate knee ligament victims Conal Keaney, Stephen Hiney and Tomas Brady.
'I was delighted for them. People don't see what they put in behind the scenes to get back.'
PAUL KEANE
