Christy O'Connor: Micheál Donoghue's Dublin departure gives Leinster final reunion added edge

Dublin will hope - to reword the famous phrase - that hell hath no fury like a team scorned

Micheál Donoghue's departure as Dublin manager in 2024, and eventual appointment as Galway boss, had nothing to do with disloyalty or opportunity and everything to do with his physical wellbeing. Pic: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile

When Micheál Donoghue stepped away from the Dublin hurlers in July 2024, at the end of his second season of a three-year term, Henry Shefflin had just departed the Galway job. The impulse calculation was that Donoghue had already been lined up to replace Shefflin, that he was making that switch without any regard for the project he’d built and was now cold-heartedly walking away from in Dublin.

The players were blindsided. The anger was more acute again because they believed they’d been jilted for Donoghue’s first love, even before that old relationship had been rekindled and Donoghue had got back together with Galway. “We haven't been around each other so obviously we wouldn't have known (Donoghue was leaving),” said Dublin captain Chris Crummey shortly after Donoghue departed in August 2024. “But it's very disappointing.”