Daly wary of popular 'trend'

DUBLIN HURLING manager Anthony Daly has addressed the apparent increase in manager-player tensions, being demonstrated yet again by the Justin McCarthy crisis in Limerick, and said if he ever lost the dressing room then he would step aside.

It was the inevitable talking point with Daly yesterday when attending the announcement of the new Vodafone sponsorship deal with Dublin, especially when looking to Dublin’s upcoming league campaign which will conclude against the currently weakened Limerick side.

“It’s an internal matter, it really is,” said Daly. “Like last year, in Cork, I just don’t want to get involved. I don’t know the ins-and-outs. They are complaining the communication wasn’t great, on one side. I heard Justin on the radio giving his view. Then the players gave another view the other morning.

“But who’s to say it won’t be Dublin’s story in a year or two. Maybe this year? That’s the way it’s going now very much, isn’t it? With Clare as well we saw it, with Mike Mac (McNamara). Alan Cunningham would have been a selector with me for three years I was in Clare. Ollie Baker was a selector with me as well, and obviously I played with him, and played under Mike. It’s like that.

“If the panel aren’t happy, they want to change. So I suppose ‘be on your guard’, that’s the message.”

When asked if Daly would step down if he ever found himself facing the sort of player revolt experienced in Cork, Clare and now Limerick he suggested he would: “Everyone would have to assess that for themselves, the various situations. I don’t think I’d like to stay on board if I thought 24 guys didn’t want me. That’s just my own personal thing. But I don’t know the ins-and-outs of Limerick. I don’t want to know them. That’s their look out. My look out is that Dublin are a relatively happy camp.

“You need fellas on their toes as well. A bit of conflict at times is no harm.

“But at this level you don’t want things to get out of hand, but there seems to be a trend of that around the country. In my time playing, the county board appointed whoever was in charge of the team, and you got on with it. That has changed, but there is more pressure on players as well. In our time, you could do a few more things, without everyone knowing about it, all over the country.

“But with the internet now you couldn’t even dream about having a bottle of Heineken, or it would be on some website the following evening. . . Players feel that by virtue of their lives being totally scrutinised now that they want things done right at the other side of it. I think it’s probably taken some of the fun out of it. It’s gone very serious, desperately serious.”

As things stand, with 24 of their most senior players in exile, Limerick will be fielding a largely developmental team in the league, just like Cork did last year.

“I suppose some people would feel we got two handy points on the board last year, beating Cork. But that Cork were trying for the lives last year . . . It wasn’t an easy match by any means.”

Daly agreed there was no easy solution, whether or not Croke Park need to get involved on a more formal level, perhaps by introducing professional managerial contracts: “Maybe that’s something the GAA do need to look at. But when it’s not at your own doorstep you don’t want to get involved. You’ve enough on your plate, trying to keep your own 35 guys happy, without worrying about what’s going on in Limerick or Clare or anywhere else.”