Dublin hurling - where next?

Hurling County Hurling
#1

A hugely depressing result on Saturday has us all feeling down and met likely wondering what direction are we going. Are we heading back to the dark days? What if Saturday was that point along a teams journey when they hit such a low point that the only way is up, wipe the slate clean regroup, remodel and go again, to bigger things?

Assuming, right to do?, Cunningham goes it’s now vital the board make the right call for Dublin hurling with the next appointment. Whether a Dub or country man shouldn’t be the argument, just the right man. Which by the way in my opinion should be a man manager who can get the very best from his squad and bring with him 2 coaches. 1 defender based and 1 forward based.

If we can get the right appointment who then in turn can reassemble the best players in Dublin to play for the county then maybe a season in 1b will be the right scenario for us to be in to help rebuild and get confidence back into the team.

The flip side to all this of course is he stays or is replaced with someone else not up to the task more players walk and we continue on the downward curve. .

Really feel we are at a crossroads today. Not too late to save or about to go back to what we were 15 years ago…

#2

Will Cody go this year? He would be a great man to have in some capacity - maybe not manager. Next person needs to be someone who will command total respect.

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#3

If he steps away from Klkenny I would suspect the only involvement he would hen have with hurling would be his club.

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#4

good post and 1B is probably the best place to be allowing for the realistic expectation that one wont be promoted next year either with Galway still there.

it has done no harm to the development of the waterford or galway teams to be there over the past few years.

I agree with you that the race or county of the next management team is irrelevant, its whoever can set Dublin up on an upward trajectory for the next 5 + years. The DCB have had 12 months minimum to plan for this vacancy and should have suitable plans in place

#5

I agree he’s no Micko and his interest levels dont extend beyond the county borders.

he is shipping some serious criticism over his ongoing selection policy of many years re lester Ryan since saturday night

#6

Would agree. Still deeply involved with the club and any donations/expenses for his appearances that I have heard of are made payable to his club!!!

#7

Somer kind of consuiltancy role?

Gary Keegan joined the Cork hurling set up last year … coincidence? I think not.

#8

Can we assume that GC is gone or will the heads in Parnell Park keep their heads in the sand and let the small ball rot away back to the John Bailey/ Humphrey Kelleher days.

If he is gone then it surely will be a clean slate for all who have been involved/overlooked/mistreated etc during the GC era. The question is will some of these guys want to come back if requested? Barring the obvious player loss to football if we are to stand any chance of breaking back into the top 6-8 teams in the country we will need all of our best players to be available regardless of what club they play for or what division they are in.

As for who is the right person to be in charge? Rather than one individual I think we need the right management team in place. It would not bother me where they are from as long as their best interests are in Dublin hurling and not their own egos or the money they are raking in. There is plenty of time to review all available options and have someone in place by October/November with the right backroom team

Obviously Mattie Kenny will be top of peoples lists. If Galway win the AI this year he will not be in with a shout of the Galway job for a few years so would he go for Dublin?

Anthony Cunningham- Travel seems to be no issue for him if he has being helping out with Laois. Good experience in both codes. Would the Galway players ousting him stand against him?

Joe Fortune- Liked by many on this forum and good history with a lot of the players, current and past

Nicky English/Liam Sheedy- Names normally get brought up but work commitments means its a no.

Donal Og- No experience as a number 1(manager) but might want to step up after a few years as a selector

Che Daly- As already mentioned it looks like he would stay with Limerick

DJ Carey- Would he like the step up from colleges hurling, has he the necessary experience for inter county management? Would surely have the respect of the players.

No Dubs listed above which is a worry. Id be shocked if Mc Guirk/ Boland were considered for the job. If available id like to see someone like Stephen Hiney being brought in as a selector or involved in some way.

Our main aim/goals for next year should be to rebuild and get back to a level of competitiveness and go out and play with no fear regardless of who we are up against. Promotion from 1B would be fantastic but not the end of the world if not achieved. Reaching a Leinster final or reaching an all Ireland quarter final is a realistic target giving a mixture of the right elements.

Id love to say things can only get better but they can get a lot worse if we don’t get our house in order

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#9

I think a team selected by Ressers poll would have had a better chance in every game this year than what was sent out by GC - and that’s not to be read as a word against any player who pulled on a Dublin senior hurling jersey this year. No player went out to play any game and lose.

#10

good post,

at this moment in tome it would look like there are little if any dublin candidates and if one looks through the club ranks there are very few sticking thier head above the parapet.

over the last few years has there been a standout Dublin club manager who would be able to go in as a selector ???

Joe fortune is an obvious Dublin hurling candidate( forget about his place of birth) and probbaly would be an ideal No2 with a view to taking over in 2 or 3 years time but who fits the manager billing for next few years is beyond me. Mattie Kenny and Anthony Cunningham would be amongst the more logical “externals” Cunningham lives near Athlone so travel isnt that hard a job whatever about work committments during college terms

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#11

Definitely doesn’t have to be a person with a legendary career.

Of the teams in the hunt last Sat morning, managers who were:

Legends - Cody, Cunningham, Davy Fit:z
Strong IC careers - Kingston, Ryan [Sheedy would fit in here too for example]
Underage county coaches - Clare lads, McGrath(mainly)
Club - Donoghue

The key is you need a good coach/manager. There’s lots of roads to arrive at that.

#12

Working in Waterford today and few lads have said that Derek McGrath is finishing up this year and he will be next Dublin manager.

No credibility at all but you heard it here first. :joy::joy::joy:

#13

I think the DCB need to treat the recruitment of the next manager like they are looking to hire for a proper job. They need to come up with a list of attributes that they want in their next manager and find the candidate that fits all of them. They also need to consider the management team, where if the candidate lacks in one area could a selector step up. In my opinion the ideal candidate will have the below:

  1. man management skills (obvious after GC…:slight_smile:
  2. communication skill
  3. previous inter county management experience
  4. ability to work well with back room team and delegate to back room team
  5. tactical aware (with good backroom team in place this is lower down my list)

The candidate needs to be able to demonstrate that they have done all of the above.

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#14

I think DCB need to look at the whole set-up from 15/16 right up to senior. As B rightly and regularly points out here we have underage teams right up to senior committing the same cardinal sins, we are not producing forwards and we just don’t seem to attack the ball or ever come up with the dirty one. We also need a clear policy on dual players … i.e none.

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#15

Donal Og? God protect us

Another cork ego on the rampage

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#16

His rant about Cork hurling being in the sh1te not stacking up at all recently … at any age level … fake news???

#17

Any possibility Jim Gavin would be prepared to take on a new challenge after September?

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#18

I was down there at the weekend and several people said it to me too. I’m assuming it’s a rumour that got legs somehow.

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#19

I think there’d be no harm in putting the feelers out to Daly. It’s quite obvious he feels an emotional connection with Dublin and he never seemed to have any issues with players. I know they say you should never go back etc… but they’re in a bad place at the moment.

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#20

I think this would be a retrograde step. New broom, new structures and a long term view needed. There are no easy fixes here so let’s do it right with a big eye to the future.