Gough wants Daly to stay in Dublin hot seat

DUBLIN defender Oisin Gough has backed calls for Anthony Daly to remain in charge of the county’s senior hurlers for a third season.

There has been doubt over Daly’s future since Dublin’s shock All-Ireland qualifier exit against Antrim in July but Gough believes the Clare man is the best man for the job.

“I personally would like to see him stay on. He’s an excellent manager. Everyone gets on very well with him. He’s the right man for the job and I think it would encourage him. He likes what’s coming up through the ranks and the set-up at underage and is very encouraged by it. It’s his decision and whether he feels the seniors are going well enough next year is another story.”

Gough is hoping that he and his U21 colleagues can give the county a boost when they compete in next Saturday’s Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland U21HC semi-final against Galway in Tullamore.

Dublin’s hopes of success have been damaged by a succession of injuries which sees cruciate victims David Treacy and Shane Stapleton join long-term absentee Paul Schutte on the sidelines. Rory O’Carroll will also be missing due to Dublin’s All-Ireland SFC semi-final date with Cork on Sunday.

“Treacy and Stapleton are two huge losses,” says Gough. “They’re very unfortunate with two serious cruciate injuries. The mood in the camp wasn’t great after we heard. It was a huge blow. Shane would be our main free-taker and Treacy our main scoring threat. Paul Schutte has kind of been gone all year and Rory will be a huge loss again. He was excellent against Kilkenny.

“But we knew with Rory that senior inter-county football is where his commitment is. He has his eye on the prize there to win an All-Ireland and what more would you want? So we kind of knew that the team would be shifted around all year, we just weren’t expecting as many injuries. We just have to soldier on and we’ve lads pushing to get in.”