Dubs dual star Ryan to focus solely on hurling

SHANE RYAN has handed Anthony Daly a massive boost by throwing in his lot with the Dublin hurlers.

The current All Star footballer has decided to call time on his Dublin football career after a frustrating season spent on the substitutes bench. The Naomh Mearnog man informed Dubs football manager Pat Gilroy of his intentions over the weekend and attended a meeting of the hurling panel on Monday.

His decision ends a 10-year football career in which Ryan collected six Leinster medals and one All Star. He can now resume his inter-county hurling career after an eight-year lapse.

“It’s something I have been rattling around in my head for a few months,” the 31-year-old said. “It’s something I thought about most years since I’ve been involved at inter-county level. But it’s a case of ‘now or never’. I don’t want to finish my inter-county career without giving hurling a right go.”

All eyes will now be on Ballyboden St Enda’s dual star Conal Keaney, who has yet to announce his intentions for next season. Like Ryan, Keaney quit the Dublin hurlers in 2004 to concentrate on his football career, but speculation has been increasing in recent weeks he may switch back to hurling.

* Thomas Cahill, the Fr Casey’s footballer who sustained a horrific leg break in Saturday’s Limerick SFC final remains in intensive care in a Limerick hospital. Cahill, who suffered the injury in a freak clash with one of his own players, suffered serious complications. However club sources say he was responding well to treatment yesterday.