Eoghan O'Donnell would prefer Dublin's home games in Croke Park

HOME COMFORTS: Dublin hurler Eoghan O'Donnell says he would prefer Dublin's home games were played in Croke Park. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Dublin’s 2022 senior hurling captain Eoghan O’Donnell admits he would prefer the county’s home games to be played in Croke Park rather than Parnell Park.

The Donnycarney venue will again host the Blues’ Leinster SHC home fixtures next year – Westmeath, Wexford and Galway travel to face them there.

While stressing other team-mates might think differently, O’Donnell doesn’t believe the tighter environs of Parnell Park are as much an advantage to Dublin as they might have been in the past.

“Being very honest, I think it used to be a bigger deal. We used to really value it as a fortress and we still do love playing there and we train there a lot of the times. It's a special place that the crowd is very close to the pitch and we get a lot of support.

“So, there's positives and negatives and depending on who you're talking to. If there was another Dublin player sitting in this seat, he may be saying that we need to keep Parnell and it's a great advantage to us. But for me Croke Park is where you win All-Irelands and that's where you want to play as much as possible.

“It's such a special place so if I ever have a choice or if it ever comes down to it, I think Croke Park is where you want to be and I think the way Dublin hurling has moved, our style of play probably suits the big expanses of Croke Park slightly better than the smaller confines of Parnell.” 

After joining Dessie Farrell’s senior football panel after the hurlers’ SHC exit in May, Whitehall Colmcilles man O’Donnell won't rule out making the switch again. 

"I’d have to see what my personal life was at the moment. It was a huge strain and huge challenge to rise to the time commitment it took to learn a new set-up, to learn new plays, systems and a new sport. I play full-forward with the club but that’s not where I was playing with the Dublin footballers – I was playing further out the pitch.

“It was such a new experience to me that it really took a toll on my time and work and personal life so it would all depend on the set-up. I’d have to speak to Dessie (Farrell) and see if it was something that he wanted as well, but I certainly wouldn’t be closing any doors."

New senior hurling manager Micheál Donoghue, O’Donnell says, has emphasised to the group that it will be they who take the lead. It’s exactly what he experienced during his brief spell with the footballers earlier this year following the hurlers’ championship exit.

“Micheál is great and when we first met him as a group, he said this is a player-driven camp and it is really up to the players to drive what direction we want to go. He has been very open to all of these things.

“It is not so much bringing stuff back from the footballers that we have not done already, it is more about affirmation that what we are doing is correct.” 

As Donoghue takes over from another Galway man Mattie Kenny, O’Donnell readily admits he and Dublin have yet to fulfil their potential. 

“It’s been the story of my career that we just haven’t maybe reached the potential we would have liked.

“Mattie is a really great guy first of all, his care for the team was unbelievable and every player there knew that whatever Mattie could do to help someone, hurling related or not, would be done. Then he had a great hurling mind and is just one of these people that lives and breathes hurling.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get to where we wanted to go. We got to a (2021) Leinster final and were very unfortunate, I went off extremely early in the game with an injury and we had four Covid cases.”