Dublin hurler Danny Sutcliffe says that the imminent choice of a successor to Anthony Daly as manager of the county team will be of vital importance to the game for the foreseeable future in persuading young talent to commit to hurling in an era when the footballers have won two of the past four All-Irelands.
"Massive. I don't think people realise – if you look at footballers and hurlers at minor level, 17, 18, who are that good they have the choice to play both," said Sutcliffe. "If they see what it was for us, brought up with Anthony Daly, say, for Mark Schutte who was playing senior football at sixth year, if you see Anthony Daly – a big name, big pull.
“We’re losing enough as it is, but it could be an option there. What a great set-up it is, look at the manager they have: it’s a pull factor for the kids – the lads coming through who are now 15, 16, that we could be playing with in two or three years.
"And if that's not there, sure why would you go play when you've Jim Gavin with the football winning you All-Irelands? So it's huge for younger lads coming through. You have to be able to sell it to them, because some lads are that good, like Cormac Costello, who can just go 'I'll pick either-or'."
Renaissance
Under the guidance of the former Clare All-Ireland winning captain, Dublin hurling enjoyed a renaissance, beating Kilkenny to win a league title in 2011 and following that last year with a first provincial title in 52 years.
The county executive is currently considering names, including former Cork coach and All-Ireland winning goalkeeper Ger Cunningham, but Sutcliffe accepts that the players also have responsibility
“Since I’ve been there, everything [in the set-up] was there for us and that was up to ourselves. We had full responsibility; when we didn’t perform that was ourselves because every box was ticked, no stone unturned.”
Kilkenny are again in charge of the Liam MacCarthy Cup whereas Dublin, who beat them in last year’s championship, had a season to forget losing heavily to both of last month’s All-Ireland finalists. Sutcliffe believes, however, that Dublin can compete with the best teams in the country.
“Yeah, of course. We wouldn’t all be going out giving our time if we didn’t think we could beat the top team – and the top team is clearly now Kilkenny and not far off it Tipp. There is always a bar and we’re chasing a bar.”
‘Good victories’
“We had a few good victories there in the league when we needed it against Clare and Kilkenny, and that kind of set us up for the summer: ‘We can beat these teams’.
“That again comes from ourselves. The set-up’s got to be there. The funding is there for a good set-up, and hopefully the right man just can steer us and we’ve to give the rest, give it back to him.”
