DALY’S FAMOUS 5
Ger Cunningham has a tough job living up to his predecessor in Dublin, but his cause is helped by inheriting a quintet of quality
FOR six years, they weren’t just Dublin; they were Anthony Daly’s Dublin. It was impossible to think of the dynamic hurling side who fought their way into the game’s elite without thinking of the charismatic Clare man at the helm. During both good days and bad days, Daly was the most prominent figure.
Now hurling’s most vibrant recent revolution must continue without its chief architect. Ger Cunningham has arrived from Cork with his new plans and ideas.
‘All I have ever known as a Dublin player was Anthony as manager,’ Joey Boland observed recently.
‘Of course, it was strange to come to training and Anthony’s not there. But what we have to do now is continue the good work he did. That will be part of his legacy.’
Cunningham got off to a decent start, reaching the Walsh Cup final. But the real work begins today in Parnell Park and there are areas for the new boss to work on.
The lack of consistency and goals are key concerns, and he needs to mould a solid foundation for his team. ‘In hurling, you need a strong and settled spine. You need to know who your full-back is, your centreback and your centre-forward. I don’t know if Dublin do, at present. It is the first priority,’ says former Dubs boss Humphrey Kelleher.
Daly may be gone, but the pillars of his revolution remain and five of the former manager’s main men will be key to Cunningham as he looks to construct a new future for Dublin hurling....
LIAM RUSHE
THE AFFECTION Daly had for the Palmerstown man seeped through the pages of his recent autobiography where he refers to the player as ‘Rushey.’ There has been a nomadic element to Rushe’s career as he has been shuffled around the field, wherever Daly needed him.
Cunningham has opted for Rushe at full-forward, for the time being. The logic is clear – Dublin’s lack of goals has been their fatal flaw. Given his physique, if Rushe is fed with the right type of ball, he will find the back of the net. Former Dubs manager Michael O’Grady believes the experiment is worth persevering with but says Dublin need to play more direct ball.
‘It’s obvious that Dublin didn’t score enough goals during Daly’s time,’ O’Grady says. ‘Rushe will bring a goal threat, but there’s no point in having a player of that quality at full-forward if you don’t play direct ball into him.
‘He needs to be used properly or else they are going to have to bring him out the field. If 15 high balls are driven into him, he might get a couple of goals off them. But because he has such good hands, he could create a chance with most of them.’
Rushe was a rare talent who blossomed under Daly. With the new regime, it looks like he will be given a new role. He needs to flourish in it if Dublin are to progress.
CONAL KEANEY
ON A profile for the Friends of Dublin Hurling website in 2011, Keaney claimed centre-back was his favourite position. It’s where he started his career as a precociously talented teenager and O’Grady wonders if it’s time Keaney, now 32, returned to his roots at No 6.
‘At this stage of his career, maybe Keaney should move back there,’ he says. ‘I think he’s better facing the ball. He gets frustrated at wing-forward because he’s not involved enough. Keaney loves to be involved. In a way, Conal is the life of the team so we need him on the ball more.’
In the recent Walsh Cup semi-final against Laois, Keaney moved to the half-back line in the second half when Dublin were reduced to 14 men.
His power and physicality would make him an ideal candidate for what has been a troublesome position for the Dubs, while O’Grady says that his ball-striking ability and eye for a pass would add another dimension to Dublin’s attack.
Keaney’s defection from the footballers was often portrayed as the seminal moment in Daly’s Dublin revolution but figuring out where to get maximum return for his considerable gifts will be one of the conundrums his successor will face.
DANNY SUTCLIFFE
BY HIS own high standards, he had a poor 2014 in a Dublin shirt. He wasn’t the only one. However, Sutcliffe channelled all the frustration of a poor county season into his club form.
As St Jude’s cut a swathe through the Dublin championship, Sutcliffe was the outstanding player – controlling games from centre-forward. Even though Kilmacud Crokes won the county final, Sutcliffe was the best player on the pitch and those leaving Parnell Park that October evening were satisfied the Trinity student was back to his best.
‘He didn’t have a good year in 2014, but he was pulled every which way for a couple of years, playing with under-21s and college as well as senior team,’ Kelleher says. ‘I think we will see Sutcliffe back to his best this year. When he’s on form, he is a class act.’
Despite being integral to Dublin’s hurling renaissance under Daly, Sutcliffe only turns 23 later this month. He has a number of years yet at the very top of the game.
MICHAEL CARTON
FOR ALL the investment made into Dublin hurling, Humphrey Kelleher reckons they haven’t produced a specialist full-back since his namesake, Brian Kelleher in the 1990s. Daly was forced to improvise in that position for most of his reign.
Cunningham experimented with Carton to fill the position in the Walsh Cup – until he saw red against Laois in the semi-final. In many ways, Carton symbolises all that was good about Daly’s time in charge. He didn’t have the flashes of brilliance of Keaney or Sutcliffe, didn’t dominate games like Rushe, but he carried out his job in an under-stated, unfussed manner.
Coming from a family seeped in Dublin hurling, Carton knows how precious the current good times are for the county. Indeed, his early career for the Dubs included a number of heavy defeats to the likes of Offaly and Kilkenny. He stars in midfield for O’Toole’s and has spent most of his inter-county career in the half-back line. But Carton could be the solution to one of Dublin’s long-standing problems in the fullback line.
PETER KELLY
WHEN Tomás Brady’s knee went in the 2011 Leinster semi-final, Kelly moved to full-back. He had never played the position before but by the end of the season, he had an AllStar nomination after dominating Lar Corbett in the All-Ireland semifinal. And yet, there was a school of thought that such a classy hurler was being wasted in the full-back line.
Cunningham clearly agrees as he has moved Kelly to centre-back. But within the Dublin hurling fraternity, most of the movers and shakers think that the team will never take full advantage of Kelly’s ability until he is restored to wing-back. Kelly had four seasons at full-back and earned himself an All-Star. But he never had the natural aggression needed for the position, Pat Horgan’s goal for Cork in the 2013 AllIreland semi-final shown as evidence for that.
If he’s released onto the wing, it may give Dublin a real base on which to build.
Daly is gone, but the pillars of his revolution remain and they will be key for Cunningham