Kettle confident Daly will stick with Dubs

Dublin chairman Andy Kettle says Anthony Daly is all but certain to remain in charge of the senior hurlers for a fifth season next year.

Following a lengthy meeting on Saturday week between Kettle county secretary John Costello and Clare native Daly, the latter is set to return for another campaign after a disappointing 2012 season.

However, Kettle feels Daly will take a more no-nonsense approach to the team’s dealings with the media as well as their social networking, while he intimated his management team may also be altered.

“Anthony is about 99% certain to come back on board. There are a few little i’s to be dotted and t’s to be crossed. But if I were a betting man I’d be putting a few bob on Anthony being Dublin hurling manager next year. But many a slip between cup and lip. But I’m about 99% certain.”

Kettle believes Daly was reluctant at the thought of finishing his time with Dublin having lost to Clare in Ennis in a qualifier. According to the chairman, the two-time All-Ireland winning captain feels his players may have been distracted from their hurling this season.

“Anthony is a very driven person. He does feel there’s a lot more in Dublin, he does feel that he made one or two mistakes, that could be corrected, and he does feel that maybe Dublin lost their way a little bit and the mind went away from hurling onto other matters.”

Asked to elaborate, Kettle said: “Well, like profiles, and Twitters and social media. And even media in general. I wouldn’t say (it’ll be) a crackdown, what I’d say is that it may be managed a little better.”

Kettle pointed to Pat Gilroy’s media briefings as an example of what the hurlers may take from. The chairman also suggested Daly may wish to change his management team following a season which saw them relegated from Division 1 and lose to Kilkenny in a Leinster semi-final and then Clare in the qualifiers.

“That would be down to him,” insisted Kettle but added, “In fairness to Anthony, he will look at everything closely. Probably, from his point of view, to come back again with the same group, both in panel and backroom, mightn’t be the best idea in the world. If he was to give it a... I won’t say, last gasp or last go, because this is a young enough panel of players, they’re not going to go away regardless of who is managing them.

“But really what we need to do with Dublin senior hurlers is turn it around and get it back up to at least where it was in 2011. We have slipped and no-one can deny it. People were talking about Dublin in the top four. They’re talking about Dublin in the top seven or eight now.”