Injury ensures Paul Schutte will miss latest Dublin-Galway clash

Paul Schutte will miss Dublin's Bord na Mona Walsh Cup semi-final clash with Galway and, for the sake of his battered shoulder, perhaps that's just as well.

Across four different competitions in 2015 the counties played each other on five occasions, resulting in three wins for Galway, a draw and a single Dublin victory.

By November, and the fifth of those meetings, in the novel AIB Fenway Classic, familiarity had clearly bred contempt and tensions turned into outright hostilities as players engaged in a high-profile melee.

Back on home soil, they will renew that rivalry this Sunday at Parnell Park and defender Schutte acknowledged that there is a chance sparks may fly.

“There’s a nice little rivalry developing there between Dublin and Galway, seeing as we play each other so often now,” said Schutte.

Different personnel

“I don’t think either team would be going out looking for (trouble) and, in fairness, there’s a lot of different personnel now, with the colleges being involved in the competition there’s players missing so I don’t know about that. But anything can happen on the day, you know that yourself.

“We play each other so often and there’s a lot of testosterone there and everyone is competitive. Nobody wants to give an inch so I suppose it’s only natural that it’s going to develop in that sense.”

Cuala club man Schutte will be spared any heavy hits as he’s currently recovering from shoulder surgery. It’s his second operation on the same shoulder and he has set himself a mid-March comeback date to ensure he is fully recovered.

He will miss a chunk of Allianz League action though he has already missed out on Cuala’s breakthrough Dublin SHC final success, last October, as well as their subsequent AIB Leinster championship games.

“It has been tough in a sense but I’ll still get half the league hopefully and the Championship,” said the talented defender.

“I’ve got plenty of work ahead of me though. I lost a stone in weight while I was in the sling and by the looks of me I can’t afford that.”

County colleague Danny Sutcliffe, an All Star forward in 2013, won't be back at all having withdrawn from the panel.

But Schutte said he understands why the St Jude’s forward, whom he rates as ‘one of the best players Dublin ever had’, walked away.

“Danny Sutcliffe is a man who is 100 per cent or nothing . . .,” said Schutte. Danny is just that sort of player who if he can’t give that 100 per cent, then he can’t commit to it. You have to respect that.

“From the start of the year, he said he had to put his studies first and I respect him for that. He wasn’t willing to come along and say, ‘grand, I play for Dublin’. Danny is a winner.”