RUSHE: WE CAN MIX IT WITH BEST
We were up at 90 per cent in every game, there was no massive flop
LIAM RUSHE had the hurling world in the palm of his hand five years ago, a Leinster medal and second All-Star in his back pocket.
Fast forward to the present day and the 28-year-old Dubliner finds himself discussing a season that yielded just three competitive wins in positive terms.
Dublin lost seven of their 10 National League and Championship games and claimed just three wins from 11 outings if you throw in their Walsh Cup semifinal loss.
It’s some difference to the high of 2013 when they cursed themselves for failing to beat Cork in the All-Ireland semi-finals.
They’ve only reached two quarter-finals since and have won just six of the 18 Championship games they’ve played.
Against that background, pushing Kilkenny, Wexford and Galway so close in this year’s Championship represented progress even if Rushe and Dublin are essentially celebrating defeat.
‘Yeah, you’re probably right there,’ nodded Rushe at the suggestion that it’s a weird scenario. ‘Straight up, it was a strange one for me personally because I had spent from October to May just trying to get fit. How the results were going weren’t as worrisome to me as they’d normally be if I was playing. Several players were in and out with injuries and were trying to get back. So the Walsh Cup, the League, that form didn’t unduly worry me because there were a lot of positions up for grabs. When we finally got it together we were competitive.’
That’s the aspect of Dublin’s sole season under Pat Gilroy that Rushe is keen to play up — that when they reached the summer they were a match for anyone.
They even kicked themselves for not beating Kilkenny in Round 1 of the new-look Leinster Championship, lost to Wexford by two points and to Galway by a point.
But Rushe reckons they’ve still got a bit to do to reel in Galway and Limerick, this year’s All-Ireland finalists.
‘I think we’re still a small bit back from those teams,’ he said. ‘They’ve proved it for two years now, definitely Galway have, that consistency to produce it day-in, day-out. We’re still aspiring to get to that level. Having said that, this year was the first year in a while that we were up at 90 per cent basically in every game. There was no massive flop from us. We were there in every one of our Championship games. We have a young and hungry panel to develop so I think there’s a small gap there between us and those teams but hopefully we can close it this year.’
The elephant in the room is the fact that nobody seems to have a clue who’ll manage Dublin in 2019. Former boss Anthony Daly, ex-coach Anthony Cunningham and Cuala guru Mattie Kenny have all been strongly linked.
But officials have kept Gilroy’s likely successor a closely guarded secret and Joe Fortune’s name may even be in the mix after guiding Ballyboden to county success.
‘I think everyone knows it has been narrowed down to a few candidates and I think there is an announcement impending this week so we’re looking forward to hearing that,’ said Rushe.
Dublin are the only Liam MacCarthy Cup hurling county without a manager though Rushe isn’t overly concerned about that.
‘It was later than this last year I think when Pat got the job,’ he said. ‘Hopefully they can get it done and dusted now that the Dublin championship is done and there are no more road blocks. The candidates that are there are all well versed in Dublin hurling so it’s not like any of them will be coming in cold — I think it’s all in hand.’
Rushe, interestingly, completed the Dublin marathon last weekend having turned to long distance running after breaking his hand. He’s also managing a longterm groin issue though completed the 26.2 mile race in three hours 49 minutes.
‘I did four weeks training,’ he revealed. ‘So I did a 10-mile run and a week later a 13-mile run. Then one 17 and one 21.
‘Then I just took two weeks off because I tried to do more but I was crippled. So I just left it at that.
‘If I was doing it again I’d like to take it seriously and do a good three- or four-month run-in to see what time you could actually put together competitively. I don’t think I’d do it again for the craic anyway.’