McCaffrey: Winning Leinster title 'hasn't really sunk in yet'

Dublin captain John McCaffrey was beaming with delight after they captured the capital's first Leinster SHC title since 1961 at Croke Park yesterday.

McCaffrey lifted his third piece of silverware this year, following Bord na Mona Walsh Cup and Allianz League Division 1B successes, but ultimately this was the best of the lot.

The Lucan Sarsfields clubman said that this was the culmination of a lot of hard work put into Dublin hurling over the years.

"To go up there and lift the Bob O'Keeffe Cup on the steps of the Hogan Stand in front of a Dublin team that hasn't won a Leinster Championship in so long was an unbelievable feeling," he said.

"It probably hasn't really sunk in yet to be honest, but we are absolutely thrilled and I can't believe it really."

For a fifth week in a row Dublin found themselves in the heat of a Championship game, but there were no signs of fatigue with all bar four of their 2-25 tally coming from open play.

Anthony Daly's side men certainly hungry for silverware, with McCaffrey adding: "We were improving each week as we went along, we were getting better and better.

"Last week we were delighted to get the (replay) win against Kilkenny, but we knew that the job wasn't done.

"We had to get a cup at the end of it. We got our heads down straight away and looked forward to the weekend to give another massive performance and that's what we did."

Dublin broke free from the shackles of Galway early on, outscoring their opponents by 1-8 to 0-2 between the 14th and 31st minutes and they led by 1-12 to 0-7 at the break.

The Dublin dressing room was a pretty calm place at half-time according to McCaffrey.

"A couple of lads spoke and said that it's the start of the second half now and it's vitally important that if we let Galway back into it early, they will just get the momentum and kick on.

"Thankfully we got a couple of early scores in the second half and that really settled us again going forward."