O’Dwyer helps spread gospel

THE signs are everywhere and Ryan O’Dwyer can’t help but noticing them.

There’s the young lad he sees constantly pucking a ball against the gable end of a house near where he lives in Springfield, Tallaght.

And there’s the snapshot of a young boy, no older than six or seven, decked out in a Dublin jersey, shorts and socks, hurling with his mother on the green as he drove to training on Friday evening.

That’s the buzz that’s been generated by Dublin’s march to a first National League Division 1 hurling final in 65 years, fuelled by the innovative spring series which saw the Sky Blues in action under lights at Croke Park.

And now O’Dwyer knows he made the right choice when he decided to transfer inter-county and club allegiances from his native Cashel and Tipperary.

“I’ll tell you straight out; I was apprehensive at first. The very first night at training in O’Toole Park, I was very nervous. How will they react? How will I settle in? But it’s hard to describe how sound the lads are. It makes you want to do even more.”

O’Dwyer has made a huge impact in the Dublin attack, along with the returning Conal Keaney.

The pair have received plaudits for their attacking exploits and while O’Dwyer admits that the recognition is welcome, he tries not to pay too much heed to the compliments.

He admits: “Anything positive that’s said about you, you listen to it but you leave it at that. Myself and Keaney are part of a team. There are no egos in the Dublin set-up and that’s the one thing I love. There’s none of this, “I’m better than him, or feck him, he’s from a certain club. We’re part of a team.”

On a special Sunday night, Dublin’s hurlers digested what they had achieved in qualifying for a league final against Kilkenny. And given the current personnel problems being experienced by the Cats, coupled with Dublin’s sparkling form, silverware is within reach.

O’Dwyer, who played senior hurling and football with Tipperary, reflects: “How does it feel? It feels so exciting to be part of something so unique and special. It’s 65 years since Dublin last appeared on it.

“Someone said to me that there was just one Dublin-born person on that team. But now everybody on the team is Dublin-born bar myself, Niall Corcoran and Maurice O’Brien. There’s such a buzz around — driving through Tallaght and seeing kids out playing hurling in what’s seen as a soccer area is a huge kick.”

And fuelled by confidence, O’Dwyer believes Dublin can maintain their unbeaten run against Kilkenny in 2011. The Sky Blues won the Walsh Cup meeting between the sides and recently, a late Paul Ryan point salvaged a draw in the league meeting at Croke Park.

“I’ve no doubt we can...we believe we can. If we didn’t believe we could win a National League, why even play it? We’re not there to make up the numbers, we’re there to win it.”

Having made a huge impact at full-forward, O’Dwyer has returned to centre-forward for Dublin’s last two outings.

He added: “I’d play corner-back if they asked me to! The competition for places is so fierce that you play wherever you’re put and don’t complain, especially with lads coming back. Declan O’Dwyer was back for the Kilkenny game, David Treacy returned Sunday but didn’t get to come on. Alan McCrabbe and Mossy (O’Brien) are back. I’ve never seen a team as competitive for places.”

Dublin’s hurling gospel, preached by Anthony Daly, is spreading like wildfire through the capital.

And in St MacDara’s Community College in Templeogue, where O’Dwyer teaches, he’s trying to do his bit. “We’re trying to get it going a bit more,” he reveals. “In the school there’s hurling, football, soccer, rugby, athletics, even kayaking. But we’re lucky because there’s such a good connection with St Jude’s.”