Game in Dublin is hurting

THE challenges faced by Dublin hurling manager Humphrey Kelleher were made patently clear at yesterday's Allianz NHL launch in Dublin's Berkeley Court Hotel.

Walsh Cup winners UCD, the city's biggest college, do not have a Dub on the starting fifteen.

"You could describe it as Brian Cody's third team. I don't think there's anybody from Dublin involved," Kelleher said.

Waterford-born Kelleher, who was joined by Brian Cody, Pat Joe Whelahan and Dinny Cahill, spoke of his ambitions for Dublin hurling.

"We're going through a transformation and it's going to take a while before Dublin can be consistently challenging for the top honours. That is what I have set out to do."

He admitted they needed to increase participation in the county and it has to start at schools and under-age level.

"Things will only change if we get our act together in this sector. We have the commitment and a panel of players that's as good as has been available in Dublin over the past 20 years.

"What's not there is resources in terms of coaches and funding. If we can get that, it would be a marvellous opportunity to develop hurling in the county.

"Since the start of December we have been together over 30 times and guys have been training very hard. It's a pity that's not reflected in the amount of coverage Dublin hurlers get. If the game in Dublin needs a boost, certainly television would help in a big way. I wonder how many in the room could give me the names of five Dublin hurlers. They work as much as any other team and to help that we need exposure. We also need the support of the Dublin public."

On the issue of dual players something Whelahan refused to discuss he believed the added value of the particular players involved "would be greater" for the hurling team. However, he made it clear he would respect whatever decisions the players reached. In the short term he will have Conal Keaney (top scorer for the footballers on Sunday) against Galway on Sunday. After that, he's "expecting" him to be part of the panel.

"Later down the road we'll take that as it comes," he said.

Kilkenny boss Brian Cody feels it will be a huge task for his team to complete a League treble.

"All we will do is approach the competition the way we have done over the last few years and do our level best, starting with our game with Waterford next Sunday," he said.

"I have always stated my conviction that the League is hugely important."

Recalling Tipperary's loss of full-back Philip Maher to injury in the League final last year (against Kilkenny), Cody saw little point in complaining about the fixtures schedule.

"I think the injury to Philly Maher was most unfortunate, all the more so since the League final was played a couple of weeks before they played in the championship.

"You might ask if it's a problem when games come close together, but at the same time when it comes to the six weeks gap between the All-Ireland semi-final and final, there is also a fixtures problem. I think the best preparation for matches are matches. Ideally, you'd have a match every fortnight."

Cody rejected suggestions of 'a problem' with the Kilkenny captaincy last season, pointing out they had a skipper in every game and had been fortunate to have "a winning captain". O'Loughlin Gaels had decided not to name their choice until they finished with the club championship and he had no difficulty with that.

As a player Cody benefited from the system which operates in Kilkenny.

"At the time when my club won the county championship it was seen as a huge honour to be able to nominate the captain. I suppose as a manager you could think that it's better to choose the captain, but I don't have a problem with the current situation."