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Nelly driving unified Dublin hurlers into All-Ireland semis after club glory
Nelly driving unified Dublin hurlers into All-Ireland semis after club glory

Irish Daily Mirror

time19 hours ago

  • Sport
  • Irish Daily Mirror

Nelly driving unified Dublin hurlers into All-Ireland semis after club glory

There's a unity that has come from having an all-Dublin management team since the appointment of Niall Ó Ceallacháin as the new boss in January, believes Conor Burke. Ó Ceallacháin is well known in the capital's hurling scene and guided Na Fianna to the All-Ireland club title at the start of the year before taking the intercounty hot-seat, ending a run of outside managers. Pat Gilroy was briefly in charge in 2018 but, either side of that, the Dubs had Anthony Daly, Ger Cunningham, Mattie Kenny (who had been hugely successful with Cuala and Micheal Donoghue as manager. "I think there's a lot of personal connection with 'Nelly' there," said Burke. "The Na Fianna lads have been playing under him for a number of years and they know him really well, he knows all the club scene really well from analysis and whatnot. "But I think there's a sense of unity to get behind him and the other management team, who are obviously Dublin-based as well, and to really put the shoulder away and really believe in what they're trying to do and get behind it." Burke is full of praise for the work that Ó Ceallacháin has done in guiding the Dubs into the All-Ireland semi-finals for the first time since 2013. "Niall's brilliant, he's a great manager, really well organised, has a brilliant team with him, a brilliant team of Dublin clubmen behind him," said Burke. "He's brought that great team with him but there's a great sense of unity there within the team, everybody's playing for him as our leader from Dublin. "And I think he's leading the way and everybody's kind of got behind him and put the shoulder to the wheel and is really pushing hard. So yeah, he's a brilliant manager." eir has reached a major milestone in its network transformation, now delivering 5G to 98% of Ireland's population. As the first operator to launch 5G at Croke Park in 2020, eir continues to enhance the matchday experience for fans and players alike. Known as the fastest field sport in the world, hurling is a fitting match for eir's ultra-fast fibre and 5G networks – now bringing faster speeds, stronger connections, and better coverage to communities across Ireland.

Conor Burke: 'Everybody's playing for Niall Ó Ceallacháin as our leader'
Conor Burke: 'Everybody's playing for Niall Ó Ceallacháin as our leader'

Irish Examiner

timea day ago

  • Sport
  • Irish Examiner

Conor Burke: 'Everybody's playing for Niall Ó Ceallacháin as our leader'

There are few more awkward positions to be in than accepting a man of the match award after a defeat but Conor Burke wore it well 13 months ago. Cork won that All-Ireland quarter-final by five points. Burke had been Dublin's top scorer from play with four points and given an account of himself almost as good as he did against Limerick in this year's equivalent game when he was again the pick of the bunch. Of course, beating Limerick have given this group the belief that they can make the county's first All-Ireland senior hurling final in 64 years but in that loss to Cork in Thurles there was plenty of encouragement too. 'I suppose there was a sense of missed opportunity,' recalls Burke. 'It was our shooting efficiency that let us down, I wouldn't pinpoint it on maybe just one individual. I think I myself had a 50% conversion. I scored four points and I missed four. "So even from that side of things, it was not just one person who missed shots that maybe they should have scored or whatever the case might be. I think that performance will give you confidence that you're able to compete and kind of push them as far as we did even last year.' That performance came under Micheál Donoghue and now with Na Fianna man Niall Ó Ceallacháin at the helm Burke speaks of the power in a native Dubliner, a native All-Ireland senior club winning Dublin manager, being in charge. "I think Niall is brilliant. He's a great manager, really well-organised, has a brilliant team with him, a brilliant team of Dublin clubmen behind him. 'There's a great sense of unity there within the team, everybody's playing for him as our leader from Dublin. And I think he's leading the way and everybody's kind of got behind him and put the shoulder to the wheel and is really pushing hard. "I think there's a lot of personal connection with Neily there. The Na Fianna lads have been playing under him for a number of years and they know him really well, he knows all the club scene really well from analysis and whatnot.' Burke celebrates at the final whistle after Dublin beat Limerick Limerick at Croke Park File picture: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile Players like Conor McHugh, 31 and in his first season with the hurlers after his forays with the footballers, and Burke's St Vincent's club-mate John Hetherton, 32, have defied the odds with some fine displays this year. Another Marino club man Rian McBride is lining out for Dublin for the first time since 2022 having been in Australia up to last year. 'Hedger's brilliant, he's obviously a good mate of mine,' smiles Burke. 'I've played with him for years and he's been haunting teams in the Dublin championship for years now, he's been probably the player of the club championship for years. So, it's great to see him really get his opportunity this year. 'I think he's been kind of in and out of the team in terms of getting game time over the last few years, but he's really getting an opportunity this year and he's grabbing it with both hands. So no surprises to see him being brilliant and I'm delighted for him. Hopefully, he can keep it going. 'Conor obviously wasn't involved for the last couple of years because of the football. He would have had the ability to play for the hurlers, nine or 10 years ago, if he chose to put his hat in the hurling ring. There's lots of talent in Dublin hurling, no better men to unlock it or recognise it than the lads who have been watching the club scene for years now.' As they were for most of that famous win over Limerick, Dublin will be without captain Chris Crummey on Saturday. Burke feels the group can tap into their character again facing Cork. 'There's obviously resilience in the panel and lots of hunger, most importantly. I think that's why we keep coming back, because we want silverware. There's not many in the panel that were on the last Dublin team that tasted silverware (in 2013). 'There's a lot of belief that there's a huge talent in the dressing room, and that if we can bring the levels of performance that we know we're capable of, we can put it up to any team on any given day as you've seen, not just (v Limerick), but with a variety of different teams over a lot of years.' * eir hurling ambassador Conor Burke was on hand as eir announced a major milestone in its network transformation – Ireland's No1 5G Network Availability award for the fifth year in a row.

'Unity of group' vital component of Dublin says Graeme Mulcahy
'Unity of group' vital component of Dublin says Graeme Mulcahy

RTÉ News​

time2 days ago

  • Sport
  • RTÉ News​

'Unity of group' vital component of Dublin says Graeme Mulcahy

"Sharp, unified, and full of energy." High praise from five-time All-Ireland winner Graeme Mulcahy on his analysis of Dublin's performance to beat his own native Limerick in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Dublin shocked the hurling world and became the story of the summer with their remarkable 14-man victory over the all-conquering Limerick side, surpassing the incredibly dramatic Munster final from only a few weeks previously. It puts Niall Ó Ceallacháin's side into the final four of this year's All-Ireland with Cork now standing in their way of a place in this year's decider. The Dubs had to overcome adversity by losing captain Chris Crummey early in the game and then maintain their lead and see it through to eventually put an end to Limerick's season. "They were just right on the day," said Mulcahy, speaking to RTE Sport ahead of this weekend's semi-finals. "Their hurling was sharp, they were unified and you could see that again in terms of the unity of the group." And Mulcahy believes that this could be the start of something big in the capital for Dublin hurling as the Kilmallock man sees similarities with Limerick when they were starting to come through at the end of the last decade. "There's probably similarities in terms of the success Na Fianna have had last year and what I suppose Niall Ó Ceallacháin has done in terms of embedding a lot of those guys, and you could see the energy that Na Fianna brought to the club final last year against Sars," said Mulcahy. "It's always something that we would have valued in Limerick in terms of the last number of years, the unity of the group and how that was reflected on the field on match day and I think you could see that more so in the Dublin performance, which was obviously disappointing from a Limerick perspective, but hats off to Niall Ó Ceallacháin and his management team. "I think they've done a super job, and I hope they could do that again the next day. I think he's a very intelligent manager and manages the day very well. "I think he'll have them primed again." As for this weekend's opponents, Mulcahy believes that Cork will have really benefited from the extra preparation time that they secured by winning that Munster final, and he expects that they have been putting the time to good use. "It allows you to take a couple of days' rest and ramp up slowly towards the semi-final, and do your homework on the potential opposition," said Mulcahy. "The last number of years when we won Munster we always got a mini camp in where we'd spend a couple of days away maybe in the likes of Killarney, and you get a bit of work done on video analysis, a bit of on-the-field work, a bit of off-the-field work, a bit of psychology work and it just gives you that bit more time to spend quality time together. "And obviously when you don't win Munster, you have a quicker turnaround, you don't have that opportunity, and I suppose you inevitably lack a bit of freshness then which I think showed [for Limerick]." But Mulcahy was also able to point out the benefits of remaining active from a competitive sense and he feels that Tipperary's third-place finish in the Munster round-robin has handed them a similar opportunity to be primed for this weekend. Tipp missed out on a place in the Munster decider, which has led to two subsequent games in the All-Ireland process, beating Laois and then Galway, to get to the semi-final stage, where they play Kilkenny on Sunday at Croke Park. "In a way it's kind of a nice thing coming through third in Munster and having that chance to build slowly through that back door," said Mulcahy. "And I think in terms of they've obviously been building under Liam (Cahill) for the last couple of years, they've brought through a lot of young talent and they continue to bring in new players nearly game on game which is amazing this late in the championship that there's guys making their first start and stuff like that. "The talent of the likes of Jason Forde who can just whip a sideline over the bar from anywhere from 65 in, they're massive attributes to have in a team and could be the difference on the day, but then equally you have Kilkenny who, if they get their best team on the field and their best six forwards they have a scary top six." Kilkenny have flown under the radar to a certain extent when taking the hype that surrounds the Munster Championship, as Derek Lyng's side plotted their way to the Leinster Championship and easing into the last four. And Mulcahy has been impressed with Kilkenny's progress over the last few years as they have adapted to the manager's style, now reaping the rewards for persisting through the early difficult days of transition. "They're almost guaranteed to get through Leinster for the last number of years which is psychologically a massive thing that they can start looking towards the later stages of the championship and build towards that," said Mulcahy. "And I think the likes of Mossy Keoghan has been in unbelievable form this year, Billy Ryan has taken his game to a new level, and I think if they can get the likes of Eoin Cody back into the fray, I'm not sure how his injury is but I think they'll be going to be a very difficult team to beat as well and could go all the way. "So yeah I think it is a benefit certainly not having maybe the helter-skelter of the Munster Championship and being able to build quietly in the background. "In fairness, when he (Lyng) came in first, we played them in the league down in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, was it '22 or '23, and you could see they were trying to change their style of play. They hadn't fully embedded it in yet and we turned them over a lot in the day and it wasn't a good day out for them. "But they've kept with the process I think something that we learned early in the days with Limerick that to stay with that process and eventually it'll click, and I think it's you've started to see it click with Kilkenny. "If they were to make the breakthrough this year, I think they'd be a very hard team to beat over the next couple of years, and they could become one of those teams you that you talk about in terms of the greatest teams to play the game."

Caffrey column: Brennan frontrunner for Dubs job, but is it an attractive post?
Caffrey column: Brennan frontrunner for Dubs job, but is it an attractive post?

Irish Daily Mirror

time2 days ago

  • Sport
  • Irish Daily Mirror

Caffrey column: Brennan frontrunner for Dubs job, but is it an attractive post?

A SATURDAY evening after an All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Tyrone and a Na Fianna man quits as Dublin not so much that I've seen his movie before, but that I was in it. I didn't hang around after Tyrone beat us in 2008. I informed my management team and county secretary John Costello straight after the game that I was gone and before gathering the players in the dressing room and telling them.I then went to fulfil my media obligations and quickly made it known, before the question was even asked. I didn't want a post mortem to drag on for two or three days before stepping previous year, Costello had called to say that he would be proposing me for another two years for me as Dublin manager, having already served three. But he couldn't get it through. They wanted to see out the 2008 season first and then review the that stage, we had been to two semi-finals and I felt that if we didn't at least get back to that stage and show signs of progression, it wasn't going to be good enough. So this was no spur of the moment call once we were beaten that day. Having not got the fifth year, the writing was on the wall. If you lose by a last minute point, there can be some solace but when you're comfortably beaten, it makes it fairly clearcut and I'd imagine there was a bit of that for Dessie Farrell last Saturday you, that's where the similarities with his predicament and mine end. His CV towers well above mine and he stands in a very elite group that have won All-Irelands at all grades as a manager. He is third only to Jim Gavin and Kevin Heffernan in terms of Dublin's most successful managers.I was surprised that he stayed on for 2025. I felt he'd go after they lost to Galway last year. He had five years done and retirements were inevitable. Stephen Cluxton staying on was an unexpected bonus but the departures of James McCarthy, Mick Fitzsimons, Paul Mannion and Jack McCaffrey were Fenton was the one that came out of left field and perhaps if Dessie knew of it earlier he may have stepped away himself. But we don't know what the discussions were behind the scenes - maybe he was asked to stay an extra year to start the would be typical of Dessie to put his shoulder to the wheel in that respect. It's well known what he's brought to Dublin but his contribution in Na Fianna is immense. He was constantly trying to drive things on and going beyond the call of duty, even when he was in with a disappointing manner for him to depart, but very few get to go on their own what happens next? Ger Brennan is the early favourite but often these things can take a very unpredictable Tommy Lyons stood down in 2004, Brian Mullins seemed a shoo in. He was unbackable, but the talks fell down and suddenly I was approached and given 24 hours to try and come up with a management team before I was swiftly ratified. You can be sure that Dublin are plotting already but, it has to be said, the job isn't terribly attractive just now. Underage results have been worrying in recent years and the conveyor belt of talent that was there for Gavin and Farrell has slowed fact, in the next few years, I don't think we're even going to be at the top table in Leinster. A lot of players have been introduced but it remains to be seen if they're going to be able to piece it together to challenge for major was a particularly bad weekend as, having not only lost to Tyrone, Kerry are rejuvenated after a spellbinding half of football against Armagh when it appeared that Jack O'Connor might have been running out of Meath push on again by beating Galway. Louth are already on top in Leinster while Offaly and Kildare's stock is rising too. It could suddenly become a very watchable province in the coming is the most obvious candidate to step into the job given what he's done with Louth and I'd imagine the lure of managing his own county would be strong for him. I'd be amazed if he doesn't get a call, at the very Darcy was strongly linked and believed to be the players' choice after Gavin quit but it didn't happen and he's with Leinster rugby now. He may not have any interest at this stage given the departure of so many of the players that he so worked closely I said, sometimes appointment processes can take a dramatic turn and while a Gavin return is a pipe dream for me, I wouldn't rule out Pat Gilroy pretty thin after that. There are others who would be credible as part of a management team but maybe don't have enough heft to take on the job assured, however, that there will be no clandestine talks like those alleged to have taken place between John Bailey and Mick O'Dwyer all those years ago. Whoever it is, Dublin will shop local.

Dessie Farrell steps down as Dublin manager after All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Tyrone
Dessie Farrell steps down as Dublin manager after All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Tyrone

The Irish Sun

time4 days ago

  • Sport
  • The Irish Sun

Dessie Farrell steps down as Dublin manager after All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Tyrone

DESSIE FARRELL has stepped down as manager of the Dublin senior football team after six years in charge. The Na Fianna clubman announced his decision in the aftermath of Dublin's 3-15 to 1-14 defeat to Tyrone in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final at Croke Park on Saturday evening. 1 Dessie Farrell during has quit as manager of Dublin after the defeat to Tyrone Farrell took the reins in late 2019 and guided Dublin to two All-Ireland titles during his tenure, including completing the county's historic six-in-a-row in 2020. He also oversaw multiple Leinster Championship wins and helped usher in a new talent following the retirement of several key players from the dominant Jim Gavin era. However, Saturday's defeat to Tyrone brought an end to Dublin's 2025 campaign and ultimately marked the conclusion of Farrell's time in charge. MORE TO FOLLOW...

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