Musical chairs.
It’s one way of describing Ger Cunningham’s early season team selections as the Dublin hurling boss. The Corkman regularly chopped and changed his side during the Walsh Cup, while the alterations continued for last week’s opening Allianz league clash with Tipperary.
Cunningham has decided to radically switch-up his starting 15 with many players featuring in unfamiliar positions such as Michael Carton at full back and Liam Rushe now foraging at full forward.
Rushe, who won an All-Star at midfield in 2011, but is more known as a centre-back, admits that the switch means he’s trying to get his head around a change in style,
‘It’s a different position and it certainly requires different skills alright. The patience required to play as a forward is just unbelievable You have to be patient at centre-back but as a forward its dummy run, dummy run, and you might not get the ball at all. Its certainly different.’
Dublin hurling fans have been somewhat perplexed by why arguably their best defender is now being converted to a forward. Cunningham has made no secret that he is looking to challenge his players under the new regime since taking over from Anthony Daly, with a mix of playing styles and positions for almost all the squad. Rushe admits that he finds the demands of a forward much different to what he has been used to in a Dublin jersey for the last seven years,
‘Well I’ve always said I’d prefer to be in the half-back line with puck outs landing down on you and I’ve made no secret of that. Full forward is an interesting position once the ball is coming in. Full-forward can be a bit lonely at times when its not. It’s a new challenge for me, its a new challenge for Peter Kelly and Mikey Carton being moved around a bit.
The GAA has always seen players swap and diversify positions with very few players nailed on as just being able to play one particular role. Rushe admits he has to fight the urge to involve himself more in the action when stationed at the edge of the square,
‘An old coach of mine, when I used to play full forward, forced me to go back to the ’13 when the ball was gone out. It was just to emphasise that there always has to be someone there in case the ball is cleared long and you never know what might happen. If the ball does go out you want to chase and you want to keep going and look for ball further out the field where the action is, but someone always has to be in there.’
Clearly Cunningham is onto something with Rushe as his new spearhead in attack as he notched 1-1 in the win over Tipperary. The 24-year-old thinks the positional mix ups for various players is a symptom of the change in mentality from their new Cork-born manager,
‘Ger puts a big emphasis on movement and making space and if someone is coming into your zone then you better get out of your zone to make sure there’s always a gap there for them to come into. Thinking about the game there is more of an onus to be positive and you have to make runs and make yourself available and make scores. In the backs its just stay nailed onto him and don’t let him puck a ball you’ve done your job.’
Dublin are one of the form sides so far in 2015, having just missed out on the Walsh cup title to Galway earlier this month. It’s a big change to a side that have flirted with relegation over the last two league campaigns. The St Patrick’s Palmerstown man admits there is a different mood within Dublin in 2015 compared to this time last year,
‘It’s the typical bounce when there’s a new manager coming in. Everyone’s back to a blank slate and everyone’s out to make an impression. Just look at Eamon Dillon, he’s flying and Ger saw him in the first few weeks and absolutely burning us all in the distance running and was wondering why is he in corner forward. Throw him out here at centre forward and see how he does.’
Dublin face Kilkenny this coming weekend in the league after the county’s most successful period in fifty years. Rushe is a panelist with the senior inter-county set up for the last seven years despite not turning 25 until this summer. He believes that Dublin are very much an established side in both league and championship,
‘When I came into the panel six or seven years ago you could only dream about a league win over Tipp. We’ve put in some serious work and the strength in our panel is an unbelievable difference really. Since I’ve started there must be 30 lads who have come and gone if not more. Everything’s changed, there’s such a different emphasis on how you look after yourself and the work we do. We’re up there certainly and on our day we can mix it with the best. Its just a matter of being more consistent about it.’
The challenge to be more consistent and put a run of results together begins this weekend in Nowlan Park as they face the defending champions. The Cats edged out Cork on Leeside last Saturday night despite Brian Cody’s side missing over a dozen players from the squad who lifted Liam Mc Carthy last September. Rushe thinks that writing off Kilkenny at any stage is foolish,
‘They looked very strong . I kind of expected to be honest. As soon as the media start to downplay Kilkenny they come back with a shock. A few high profile lads retired and injuries and the lads missing through Ballyhale. There is just such strength in depth in Kilkenny and there’s probably a few lads down there that see this as their chance to shine with spots up for grabs in the panel and the first 15. Home advantage matters so much in the league and last year nearly everybody just won their home games and lost their away games. We only had the two home games last year and its going to be a huge challenge and we’ll try and buck that trend.’
One man who’ll be on show this Sunday is Jackie Tyrell, who will be heading to the USA shortly as as part of a new TV program for AIB called ‘The Toughest Trade’. One of the stars of the show, David Bentley has tried his hand at GAA this week with Crossmaglen while Aaron Kernan is at Sunderland for a number of days. Would Rushe ever fancy his chances as a professional sportsman,
‘I was very jealous. I wouldn’t mind a switch over to a baseball team in Miami for a month. You see the Ray Moran stats about distance run and tackles and hours put in. They are operating at a different level when you can dedicate all your time to it to training and rest and recovery. I don’t think we’re too far off either. Baseball might be a bit slow for me to be honest but I suppose I’d be best suited to rugby. My feet wouldn’t be too great for soccer but I can handle rugby ball. I’d love to have a crack at American football but unfortunately there isn’t much of at over here.’
Liam Rushe chatted to us wearing the Under Armour’s new Speedform Gemini. Available at Lifestyle Sports and at www.underarmour.com.
