O’Dwyer to miss league for Dublin
The Tipperary native and former All Star nominee is recovering from a shoulder operation over winter. He opted to go under the knife to cure a long-standing issue but has been forced to write off the early part of the new year.
The man who famously netted three times against Limerick in the 2011 All-Ireland quarter-finals, only removed a sling from his shoulder this week.
It’s understood he’s not planning a full playing return until around April which could see him miss Dublin’s entire Division 1B campaign as it wraps up on March 31.
However, boss Anthony Daly will be optimistic about extending their interest in the competition into the latter stages meaning some potential pre-Championship game time for the experienced forward.
Aside from O’Dwyer’s difficulties and the loss of Tomás Brady to football, Daly has a strong hand to deal with compared to 12 months ago.
Conal Keaney, Stephen Hiney and Brady were all recovering from cruciate knee ligament injuries at the time while other top players including former All Star Alan McCrabbe were battling problems.
It made for a disastrous season that yielded just one competitive win, over Laois in the championship, though forward Paul Ryan insists 2012 has now been consigned to the past.
“We were very disappointed with last year and there’s a lot of pain still there, we’re obviously hoping to do a lot better,” said Ryan, who hit 3-2 in the New Years Day win over the Dubs Stars.
“We lost a couple of narrow matches by a point or two and that kind of ate away at our confidence without us knowing. But, to be honest, we want to put that behind us. We’re going into the new season now. I know that last year is not even going to be mentioned in our dressing-room. We’re on a clean slate now.
“Our first goal is to get back to where we were last year, Division 1A in the League.”
