Treacy confident that serial winner Kenny will help Dubs fulfil potential
DAVID TREACY knew exactly what was in store when the “hurling-mad” Mattie Kenny took the reins as Dublin senior boss.
Kenny’s exploits with Cuala – guiding them to back-to-back All-Ireland club hurling titles – are well documented and Treacy quickly “hit the reset button” after the Dalkey side were dethroned in October, as he knew what lay ahead.
The 29-year-old insists Kenny’s enthusiasm is already translating across to players and he is adamant that the new bainisteoir has little interest in anything but victory and helping the Dubs fulfil the obvious potential which they highlighted at different stages of last year’s championship under Pat Gilroy.
“He doesn’t want to lose any game. We’d be playing him in golf and he refuses to lose in anything. He’s just that sort of personality. Mattie’s looking to go out and win every single game,” Treacy said at the launch of Future Proof Media.
“That’s the kind of mindset and the kind of mentality that we have to try and adopt, whilst getting a structure in place and tactics and things like that. So it’s really important that we get that right from the beginning.”
The Cuala sharpshooter – heading into his 11th inter-county season and being playfully referred to as “coffin-dodger” by his younger team-mates – is far too wise to make bold predictions of what Dublin wish to achieve this year.
But with the likes of Mark Schutte (who opted out for the past two years and won All-Ireland SFC titles as part of Jim Gavin’s football squad), Darragh O’Connell and Treacy’s younger brother Sean back on board, he insists that Kenny is in a strong position with “a full deck to choose from the off”.
Given that his days with Dublin won’t last forever, Treacy
appreciates how the game’s changing demands – particularly playing at wing-forward – make things more difficult with every passing year, but he is keen to “stay ahead of the curve”.
The motivation to represent Dublin’s hurlers may not have been something many close to him understood but he couldn’t imagine any other path.
“When I was growing up in south Dublin, it was rugby. It was schools rugby. That was the be-all and end-all when you were in secondary school. When lads are going out to do whatever they do on weekends and you’re staying in because you have minor training and they’re saying ‘why don’t you just quit?’” Treacy said.
“And then when you’re working and you’re not going out on the p*** on a Thursday or a Friday, it’s, ‘why are you bothering doing this?’ People just don’t understand it. And you’re in this bubble. And every inter-county team is.”
Despite defeat regularly rocking him to his core, it’s a commitment he’s never seriously questioned and he’s keen to leave his mark when he makes his return from a minor hamstring injury next week.
“You lose one match and you question it. This is the way it affects your mood. It’s such a big part of your life. Obviously with Sineád (his girlfriend and Dublin ladies football star Sinéad Goldrick) being part of it as well, you can go on a week-byweek basis.
“But you would hope that the positives always outweigh the negatives. The sooner the negatives outweigh the positives, then you have to take a look. But I’m still really enjoying it. I love playing. I love representing my county. I’m really looking forward to this year.”
There’s much optimism in the capital and Treacy will be one of their key drivers as they bid to leave their print on the hurling season.