Rocky road to Dublin

The Kieran Shannon interview

At the top of page two, in big bold writing, is the heading ‘A Vision for Dublin Hurling’, with immediately underneath it the target — ‘Hurling to be the number one Gaelic sport in Dublin by 2010.’ A couple of lines further down, the report declares they will have succeeded when, amongst other things, “our sporting competitors regard us as the leader”. It hasn’t quite worked out like that. Alan Brogan has since won seven Leinster football medals while Brian O’Driscoll has become the most feted personality in all of Irish sport, never mind just in Dublin.

But by shooting for the stars, Dublin hurling hit the moon. They’re in the frame, they’re in the discussion.