Henry becomes first Dub All-Ireland champ to retire
The Raheny man had contacted Pat Gilroy to confirm he was bringing his time with the team to an end after 10 seasons yesterday.
The versatile 31-year-old is also regarded as an excellent club hurler but Anthony Daly stated he’s content with his current panel of players.
“In fairness, we’re in our fourth year and we have a fair idea about our panel,” said Daly.
“We invited David in before and he appreciated the interest but was committed to the footballers. From what I’ve heard, David would be a real dyed-in-the-wool character for you but we’re going to have savage competition for places when the injured guys come back.”
Henry was an ever-present at corner-back under former Dublin manager Paul Caffrey who paid glowing tributes to the former captain.
“They say nice guys don’t always come out on top but Davy Henry proved that wrong. In my nine years with Dublin, he was one of the nicest fellas I’ve ever dealt with.
“There was such a decency to him. He had natural talent and was able to play in any number of positions for club and county. He’s been a fantastic servant to Dublin football.
“I remember under Tommy Lyons he had played a league game for Raheny in the six weeks we had before the championship when we had no lads playing club football. He went up for a ball and broke his arm badly. I visited him in Beaumont hospital and he was crying because he hadn’t sought permission to play.
“Players being players, all he wanted to do was play with his friends and help out his club. I couldn’t speak highly enough of him.”
Interestingly, Dublin’s All-Ireland winning captain Bryan Cullen had not referred to Henry on Sunday when discussing why there had been no retirements in the camp.
“It’s a young side,” remarked Cullen. “Denis Bastick, Barry [Cahill] and Clucko [Stephen Cluxton] are the only ones that have hit 30 so it wouldn’t make sense for anyone else to step aside.”
Cullen, who has not yet been confirmed as skipper for 2012, was delighted to get the run-out against Carlow on Sunday after a busy run of celebrations:
“January is all about getting the fitness levels back up and getting lads out and playing football again.
“That was the lads’ first game in a couple of months when the ball might have felt a bit alien in their hands. The more ball contact we get over the next couple of weeks the better.”
A couple of Dublin’s debutants in Dr Cullen Park caught Cullen’s eye.
“I thought Davy Byrne was good at wing-back. He was very energetic, very enthusiastic, very tenacious as well. He looks a good prospect. We had a lot of new faces out there so guys like Michéal McCarthy who came onto the panel last year .There’ll be a lot more opportunities for lads over the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, Ciaran Whelan will take over as senior manager of his and Henry’s club Raheny for 2012. The two-time All Star had been approached about the Kilmacud Crokes position but has opted to stay closer to home.
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