GIVE CUALA GUYS A BREAK, PLEADS MORAN
DUBLIN hurling defender Seán Moran has defended his Cuala club colleagues who knocked back county call-ups from Pat Gilroy. Dublin supporters had hoped Cuala’s back-to-back AIB All-Ireland club wins would give the county side a big lift for the Championship. But key players Con O’Callaghan, Mark Schutte, Darragh O’Connell and Colm Cronin will all be absent for various reasons. O’Callaghan and Schutte will team up with the Dublin football panel while O’Connell and Cronin are unavailable. Cuala captain Paul Schutte, another former Dublin hurler, is expected to be out for several months with a hamstring injury. It leaves AIB Club Hurler of the Year Moran, Cian O’Callaghan, David Treacy and Jake Malone as the only players to accept Gilroy’s invitations. ‘It’s very easy I think for the public to make assumptions on people coming back in with Dublin but outside of hurling, players still have their own lives,’ said Moran. ‘For a lot of guys, a lot of them need a break, mentally even just to unwind and to have that hunger again. ‘If you’re not ready to come back into a county set-up then the worst thing you could do is come back and not be motivated. You’re almost taking from the group.’ ‘I think Darragh and a few others just needed that break. Nobody will hold it against them. They’ve put a lot of their lives on hold and they want to pursue different avenues of their lives at the moment. Cuala needed a replay to beat Na Piarsaigh to the AllIreland title, reducing the amount of time the quartet of county players have with Gilroy’s panel before the Championship. ‘It’s going to have to be enough time,’ said Moran. ‘We’re working hard now to integrate ourselves.’