It wasn’t so much an interview with Anthony Daly as an audience, the current Dublin senior hurling manager, former Clare All-Ireland-winning captain, holding court as he prepares his side for Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Cork (Croke Park, 3.30pm) in the only way he knows how, straight and honest.

WERE it not for a quirk of fate, instead of watching last Sunday’s exciting Tipperary/Cork Munster championship match on TV in his native Dublin, David ‘Dotsie’ O’Callaghan could well have been a central part of the action in Thurles.