Dotsie bred to be as ‘natural’ as they come

All the nonsense about Dublin hurling and Dublin hurlers over the years, talk of them not being ‘natural’ hurlers, of being ‘made’ hurlers, of Dublin not being a traditional hurling county – there’s something people should know.

There are individuals and families and clubs in Dublin as rooted in Ireland’s ancient sport as anyone anywhere else in the country.

Take David ‘Dotsie’ O’Callaghan from the team that will meet Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final in Croke Park. Dotsie’s late father Paddy was from Ballyhea in Cork, a family and a club long associated with hurling (Dotsie’s cousin Pa O’Callaghan has been on the Cork minor team for the last three years).

But that doesn’t even partly explain Dotsie’s love of the game, nor yet his proficiency at it. That comes almost entirely from his own local Dublin club, St Mark’s of Springfield in Tallaght.

“My father would have been into the hurling as well but he never pushed hurling or anything else on me. I would have gone to a few Munster matches alright but I would have always loved going into Croke Park to watch the matches.

“When I was younger in Mark’s we had great mentors. We would have been in Division One all the time and in all the Féiles. Joe Costigan, a Laois man, and Una Connolly, a Dub, the two of them took hurling teams. There was a good tradition of GAA in St. Mark’s. We won a county intermediate hurling championship and a senior ‘B’ two years on the trot.

“We would have been fairly competitive in senior ‘A’ as well. It’s slipped back in the club now. Coming from where I’m from in Springfield, there would be a lot of rented houses and the community spirit might not be there as much as it was when I was growing up. We’re trying to get the juvenile set-up going again but it’s proving tough.”

That’s the real problem in Dublin GAA, that’s the real problem with Dublin hurling. It’s got nothing to do with being either a ‘natural’ or a ‘made’ hurler, it’s about circumstances, about battling heavy odds, about thriving in spite of the surroundings.

The hurling tradition is in Dublin, just as it is in pockets in counties from Kerry to Donegal up along the west coast, from Antrim to Wexford and all counties in between down along the east. And it’s a powerful tradition. There is also a ready-made fan-base for Dublin hurling, a huge fan-base, but as for any other sport you care to mention, it won’t really manifest itself til Dublin start winning big.

Already it has started, a fine crowd in Croke Park for the Leinster final against Galway, Dublin’s first such title since 1961.

“I’m games promotion officer in Raheny and I can see it. There’s a huge buzz there. I think it’s down to young kids seeing the Dublin hurlers doing well. There’s huge work being done out there and I think in the years to come you’ll see Raheny getting stronger in hurling.”

First Raheny, then Dublin. Little acorns, mighty metropolitan oaks.