'It was never fashionable to play hurling in Dublin': Conal Keaney on a changing culture in the capital

Conal Keaney knows their Leinster final opponents Kilkenny have a culture advantage. However, he maintains the developing hurlers need to be inspired by the senior team.

Conal Keaney: Dublin’s size doesn’t guarantee there will be a conveyor belt of talent feeding into the senior panel. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Conal Keaney insists Dublin’s size doesn’t guarantee there will be a conveyor belt of talent feeding into the senior panel.

The former dual star, who stepped away from Mattie Kenny’s hurling panel earlier this season, isn’t blind enough not to acknowledge the vast number of underage players in the capital benefits Dublin.

On the other hand, he knows their Leinster final opponents Kilkenny have a culture advantage. However, he maintains the developing hurlers need to be inspired by the senior team.

“No, it's not inevitable,” he says of Dublin’s size equating to success. “Yes, you're increasing your chances of getting more lads through in the development squads and maybe even the colleges coming through and breaking into the minors. The more you get playing the better chance you have of having a stronger squad.

“I think ultimately you still need to have a successful top team which is the senior team. They need to be having success in order to keep that conveyor belt going.“ 

The footballers’ multiple triumphs have enshrined their status as role models but hurling is a more popular game than when Keaney made his breakthrough as a teenager in 2001.

“It was never fashionable to play hurling in Dublin when I started off but now it is. Every kid has a hurl. Every young lad wants to play hurling as they want to play football too. The more success the minors and 20s and the seniors have the better it is for Dublin for the years to come.” 

Keaney also believes officiating in the capital has aided the up-and-coming hurler. The 38-year-old remembers the bad, no-holds-barred, days. “The standard of hurling across the board everywhere has improved. The conditioning of lads has improved, the ability of the younger lads coming through and the condition that they're in is obviously different as well.

“A huge thing in Dublin hurling is that the refereeing has improved. There wouldn't have been killings previously, but very close to them. There was a lot of stuff let go when I started first which wasn't a nice place to be for a young lad sometimes, but that's all changed now, the refereeing standard is really good.

“The standard is obviously then raised by that and you can judge that by Cuala. When they've got out of Dublin, they've done really well, winning the back-to-back All-Irelands.” 

Keaney knows only too well that Dublin’s win over Galway last Saturday week will be dismissed should they not beat Kilkenny. “It’s great to get to a Leinster final but ultimately if you don’t win it, it doesn’t mean anything. You forget how many Leinster finals you were in if you lose them, it doesn’t make a difference.

“It’s all about winning and this team obviously want to stamp their authority, this is a new Dublin team coming. They want that bit of success. If you don’t win in the finals, you’re just forgotten about again, you’re gone back into the pack with everyone else. So they want to stamp and make sure they win on the weekend and become this new and exciting, full of energy Dublin team that we’ve seen.”