'Let fans get excited, it's about winning trophies': Conal Keaney believes Dublin have learned from past mistakes

Keaney added that one of the great attractions of Dublin now is that they're managed by a native, Niall Ó Ceallacháin.

LESSONS LEARNED: Former Dublin hurler Conal Keaney with the Bob O'Keeffe Cup. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Conal Keaney is asked if he see similarities between the mental fortitude of the current Dublin hurlers and the team he played on in 2013, which won the county's last Leinster title.

He is halfway through answering when he suddenly veers off to 2019 and Dublin's Leinster SHC win over Galway at Parnell Park. For context, that result knocked Galway out of the Championship and locked down third position in Leinster, and All-Ireland series hurling, for Dublin.

"There was a big nearly sing-song on the pitch," said Keaney, getting visibly frustrated at the memory.

"And I was so angry at myself after that game. Why were we getting involved in that? Celebrating with the supporters. We thought we'd won something - we'd won nothing. Then we got beaten by Laois the week later, or two weeks later, whatever it was. That was a massive regret. Sorry, I'm going on a tangent, but we let ourselves down that day.

"I was delighted to see the last day when Dublin beat Kilkenny that it was, 'We just beat Kilkenny, it doesn't matter. We're going into the Leinster final and there's nothing won here, so what are we getting excited about?'

"Which was great, let the supporters get excited, but it's about winning trophies."

If it isn't clear, Keaney was a pretty focused and driven individual throughout his 20 years playing hurling and football for Dublin.

He was a key figure in that 2013 success, as well as in their breakthrough National League win, in 2011. Anthony Daly was in charge for both.

Keaney describes the Clare native as 'nearly one of our own', a man who did everything in his power to make the Dublin hurlers relevant not just provincially and nationally, but even in their own county.

"Over the years, it might have been a second-class sport to the football," acknowledged Keaney of the game's status in the capital.

Daly certainly helped to push hurling to the forefront of GAA discussion in Dublin.

Keaney remembers, for example, the psychological masterstroke Daly pulled in between drawing with Kilkenny in the 2013 Leinster semi-final and meeting them again in the replay.

"We were disappointed coming into the dressing-room (after the draw)," recalled Keaney. "I remember being like, 'You know the story here, this is going to be tough the next day'. But Daly came in and took the whole thing by the scruff of the neck and changed it around and said, 'These bastards are lucky to play us again. We can't wait to get out again!'.

Former Galway hurler David Burke and former Dublin hurler Conal Keaney with the Bob O'Keeffe Cup at a media event at Croke Park. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile.

"We were like, 'Really?!' And he was saying, 'I can't wait for another week's time and we're going to savage them'. So we were thinking, 'Maybe, yeah'.

"Then we saw a few of them, Kilkenny lads, walking out of the stadium. We were on the bus and they looked really dejected. We were like, 'We're going to finish these lads now'."

They did too, and Dublin took care of Galway afterwards in the final. And yet for all of Keaney's obvious admiration for Daly, he is strong on the point that one of the great attractions of Dublin now is that they're managed by a native, Niall Ó Ceallacháin.

"Huge, it's massive," said Keaney. "And not just the manager, the selectors too. It's what Dublin has been looking for for years. That's not a dig at any of the people outside Dublin that managed over the years. 

"Like, Dalo was nearly one of our own. They just don't have that deep down burning desire to win for another county. If you go to another county, you'll do your best. If you don't win, you're driving home. It's not really a massive issue."

Keaney played football for Dublin for long enough to realise they wouldn't countenance a figure like Micheál Donoghue, a hero in a different county, managing them.

"You don't see many lads in Dublin football coming from the outside being manager or coach," he said. "So there's a reason for that. Look at Heffo and all these lads. That's the history that's there. There's a massive motivation and a massive responsibility in all of that. I think that's the way we need to go from now on."

Keaney pulled up stumps in 2021 after two decades of involvement with Dublin teams. He's a restaurateur these days, with one outlet in Knocklyon and another opening shortly in Portugal.

His own life has moved on post-Dublin hurling but he's optimistic that for the present bunch, if it doesn't happen this evening, in terms of regaining the Leinster title, it will soon.

"They're building and building, this is not just a flash in the pan," he assured, noting how they beat Kilkenny without injured duo Liam Rushe and Eoghan O'Donnell.

"They know that they're not relying on any one individual."

And what about comparing them to the class of 2013, as hurlers?

"They're definitely better hurlers, they're definitely better athletes," accepted Keaney. "The whole thing has changed. They have a bigger squad and as I say, there's no one person or two people that they're depending on."