DALY THE MAN WITH A PLAN IN DUBS’ MINDS
Long-serving boss gets big vote of confidence
IN THEIR search for a ‘high profile’ manager to replace Tommy Naughton, the Dublin County Board considered DJ Carey, Nicky English and even l e gendary Meath football boss Seán Boylan before finally deciding on Anthony Daly.
The former Clare manager was hailed by then captain Stephen Hiney as a ‘new face with new ideas’ and as he enters his sixth season at the helm, there is no sign of the Dublin hurling project growing stale. The 44-year-old can no longer claim to be a new face, but the second longest- serving manager in inter- county hurling has so far proved capable of amazing feats of regeneration throughout his eventful and, ultimately, successful stint in the capital.
Having resigned after three years in charge of his native county, where he i s revered as a two- time All-Ireland-winning captain, few would have put money on him lasting at least twice as long in the highpressure surrounds of Dublin.
Yet there he remains, second only to the Kilkenny institution Brian Cody (16th season) in terms of hurling longevity and third in Gaelic games overall behind the Cats legend and Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte, who is facing into his 12th campaign.
There were very real fears Daly would walk away last autumn following the devastation of an All-Ireland semi-final loss to Cork, which seemed to suck some of the goodness from a first Leinster title in 52 years. ‘It’s hard to say, at a minute like this, that you’d have any sense of satisfaction, you know? We just feel disappointed, and heavyhearted, at times like this, but, you know, maybe in a few weeks we’ll be able to look back on it with a bit of satisfaction,’ said Daly in the immediate aftermath of that semi-final defeat.
The fact that he had only agreed a one-year contract extension following a disappointing 2012 campaign increased fears the businessman, who leases out Murty Brownes pub in Tullycrine, would walk away.
In the weeks after the Cork defeat, his players appealed for the former Clare captain to commit to another year, with Ryan O’Dwyer (below) putting forth possibly the most eloquent argument.
‘He’s a f****** headcase but he suits us down to the ground. We need him. I honestly think that he’ll feel there’s unfinished business there,’ said the Tipperary native.
‘We’ll leave him at it himself. He has a lot of things to evaluate himself. He has a family in Clare. It’s a long distance up, a couple of times a week, so we’ll leave him at it and see what he comes back with,’ added O’Dwyer. ‘But I think he knows that every one of us wants him and I think he’ll stay on.’
That was August and one month later Daly signed another one-year deal. His backroom t e am of Richie Stakelum, Shane Martin and Ciarán Hetherton have remained on board too, while former Clare All-Star forward Tony Griffin al s o contributes at training.
It proved a potent mix last year as Daly and his selectors re-energised a playing group who had slumped following their 2011 Allianz League triumph, as they were relegated from Division 1A, received a Leinster shoeing from Galway and were eliminated from the qualifiers by 14-man Clare in 2012. This past season, they shocked Kilkenny in a replay, after also coming through two tough games with Wexford, to set up a Leinster final with defending champions Galway and marksman Paul Ryan inspired them, shoot- ing 2-7 of their winning 2-25 total.
However, they went down to Cork by five points in their next competitive match, more than a month later. O’Dwyer’s red card was a critical turning point and the team were devastated to crash out of arguably the most open All-Ireland Championship in more than a decade.
Daly takes his side to Gorey tomorrow for a Walsh Cup semifinal against Wexford. A side featuring veterans like Hiney, Conal Keaney, David ‘Dotsy’ O’Callaghan and Paul Ryan, plus promising newcomers Barry Connolly, Cian O’Callaghan and Colm Cronin blew the cobwebs off with a midweek win over UCD.
Retaining the services of defender Hiney was crucial and O’Callaghan told Sportsmail that, in his sixth year as manager, Daly has developed potentially his strongest squad yet. ‘ The core group have been there with Anthony for the last five or six years. There is that experience there built up. We’d be hoping to use that to our advantage as well. There’s great continuity and camaraderie there.
‘Obviously there are young lads coming through as well which helps to push the thing on. You need that too,’ said O’Callaghan.
The St Mark’s clubman left the football panel in 2007 and committed to hurling in Naughton’s final year in charge. He said there is no secret to Daly’s longevity.
‘He is just a personable guy and people get on with him. He can be serious as well, but he gets on with people and just generally you wouldn’t get fed up listening to him. That would be one of his key strengths,’ said O’Callaghan, who is confident the group can avoid the pitfalls they fell into in 2012, when they failed to back up the successes of the previous year.
‘It is hard to put exact reasons on why we had a poor year. Even the year after the League win we were close in a lot of League games and just lost by a point and I suppose t hat eroded a little bit of confidence.
‘I suppose the group has been on a learning curve in the last couple of years, the management and the players.’
As the accompanying panel illustrates, few managers are afforded the amount of time Daly has been given with this group of players. County boards often respond to fallow years by seeking a change of management and that can often provide a short-term boost, but the Dublin hurlers have progressed steadily under one man for more than half a decade.
‘The players would be fairly selfdriven as well, and to have Anthony there, who has seen and done it all, to have that experience there, with the management team who have seen and done it all, we are all wanting to hurl at the highest level and to have that guidance there. Everyone has that drive to learn from their own mistakes,’ said O’Callaghan.
This includes Daly, who enjoyed a difficult three years in charge of his native county.
Struggling to rebuild after the glories of Ger Loughnane’s era, Daly’s Clare failed to win a Munster Championship match during his three years in charge.
‘He has that experience as well and I’m sure he is learning as he goes with us as well,’ said O’Callaghan. ‘None of us ever stop really learning and picking up things and I think he is a good man to take these things on board.’