Harrington: Dubs must be patient in quest for glory

DUBLIN chairman Gerry Harrington has warned that the county’s up-and-coming hurling fraternity must learn to walk before it can run after Sunday’s Leinster semi-final defeat to Wexford — both on the field and in the stands.

The county minor and U21s will be defending provincial titles in semi-finals this week but transferring that success to the senior side — and into bums on seats — will take time, according to Cork-born Harrington.

Only 25,555 people passed through the Croke Park turnstiles for the triple-header on Sunday and a disappointing number of Dublin supporters answered the call to support their teams, minor and senior, in their own back yard.

Those that turned up did at least make themselves seen and heard, particularly on the sparsely populated Hill 16, and Harrington made a point of thanking those fans for their vocal support in unattractive weather.

“I would be happy enough with the support on Sunday. It will take a while, maybe a minor or U21 All-Ireland, to get supporters on board but our fans gave the team brilliant support.”

Thwarted yet again in their ambition to reach a Leinster final, Dublin’s players have declared their determination to pick themselves up and refocus their sights on a place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

To do that, Tommy Naughton’s side will have to defeat either Cork or Limerick in the qualifiers and one more game besides, but their experiences post-Leinster 12 months ago don’t offer much in the way of encouragement.

On that occasion, Dublin were again second best to Wexford in a nip and tuck provincial semi-final before losing to Cork by 14 points in a back door fixture in Parnell Park three weeks later.

“Our goal was to get to a Leinster final and we haven’t got there,” said midfielder Johnny McCaffrey. “The next thing for us now is to look to another one of our goals at the start of the year, which was to get to an All-Ireland quarter-final.

“That is the business end of the championship. This is what championship is all about. You’ve got to pick yourselves up from a defeat and just get on with it. We have three weeks to prepare now for a massive game and get ourselves into a quarter-final, which is where we deserve to be.”

Naughton admitted that his side had taken “a fair few kicks” in the two-day session with Wexford but took great solace in the manner in which his side battled on until the end of a replay in which things never really went their way.

It wasn’t all bad on Sunday with the minors drawing with Wexford in their own championship tussle while up to a dozen of Naughton’s senior panel will be involved with the U21 side that takes on Kilkenny in the Leinster semi-final at Parnell Park on Thursday evening. Clearly, the defeat two days ago is not the end for this team.

Said team captain Stephen Hiney: “There is definitely massive progress from where we were this time last year.

“You still have to win the matches and make the breakthrough though. We are bitterly disappointed and we will look to pick ourselves up and get ready for the next day,” he added.