A bold move.
On Wednesday Dublin decided to appoint Pat Gilroy as their new hurling manager.
From an outsiders perspective, it seemed like a strange appointment. Gilroy was made Dublin football manager at the turn of the decade and ended the counties 16-year wait for All-Ireland glory after a dramatic win over Kerry in 2011.
The St.Vincent’s man decided to leave his role in 2012 after a semi-final loss to Mayo citing work commitments but is now in the position to take over the hurlers.
When the Dublin County Board opted for Gilroy over Cuala’s All-Ireland winning coach Mattie Kenny it may have raised a few eyebrows given the lack of Gilroy’s hurling background but maybe it is not that much of a surprise.
Gilroy is thought to be hugely successful in his private life and a great organiser and, in frank, with a number of players that could have been involved in the Dublin senior set up that aren’t it looks like they could use a man that could rally the troops.
Dublin’s James McCarthy believes so too, he was speaking at the September PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month Awards where the Ballymun Kickhams’ man scooped the award after his man of the match performance against Mayo in the All-Ireland final:
“I had heard rumours of it a few weeks back but I wasn’t sure if it would actually happen,” McCarthy said.
“It’s a very good appointment for the boys and I’m sure they’ll be happy.
“I’m sure he obviously played both hurling and football with St.Vincent’s, I obviously know from my experience that he’s a very good manager and he’d be a good man with the hurlers.
“He’ll have a very united bunch and maybe guys that are not there at the moment I reckon they’ll all come back in and he makes you want to play for him which is the biggest compliment I can put forward for Pat, he gets teams very driven and wanting to play for Dublin.
“When I first came in he was organising, pooled everything and everyone knew what was going on and that’s half the battle and controlling 30 or 35 guys and 10 or 15 in the backroom team. You have to be able to know everyone’s role and job and I suppose he’ll be very good at doing that.
“I think that can jump across in both sports.
“Football and hurling are quite similar anyway, very much the same rules in the majority of them so he should be able to cross over no problem.
“You’ve got your coaches, I’m not sure who’s coming in exactly but he’ll have coaches from hurling I’d imagine and skill coaches to come in and work at that end of the game because hurling is a massive game for touch and for skill so I’m sure there’ll be guys that will come in to work on that with the team so best of luck to them all and hopefully they become successful as well,” McCarthy concluded.
David McGee, Markets and Strategy Partner, PwC and Aogán Ó’FearghaÃl, GAA President are pictured with Dublin Footballer James McCarthy at the announcement of the September PwCGAA/GPA Player of the Month Awards at a reception in PwC Offices, Dublin
