DUBLIN COUNTY BOARD chairman Andy Kettle says their focus has now switched to finding Anthony Daly’s successor.
Daly chose to step down from his position in charge of the Dublin hurlers after six years in charge, where he helped bring a Leinster title and National League crown back to the capital.
“We had a farewell night with Anthony and his selectors last Monday night,” said Kettle, who was speaking at the launch of the Kilmacud Crokes FBD7s in Kilmacud Crokes GAA Club yesterday.
“So I suppose the mourning period has passed and we are now into the job of finding the next Dublin manager.”
In terms of choosing the next man to take Dublin forward, Kettle says they have identified some potential targets but haven’t gone as far as approaching them yet.
“The approach is that we have sat down and identified some people who we will be contacting. We have been contacted by some people, not very many – it’s a cat and mouse game.
“Who want’s to put their head above the parapet looking for the job, and who is sitting there hoping that they will be approached. The pool is not exceptionally deep, there aren’t that many people there, so we will be getting to the coldface and identifying the people we want terribly, terribly soon.”
He admitted that it won’t be easy to find a suitable replacement for not only Daly, but also his coaching team.
“It will take a lot of work. The person we want is the person who will take Dublin hurling to the next level. We have certainly got to a certain level whereby we have competed and won Leinster titles. We have won National League titles and got to All-Ireland semi-finals, but we have yet to grace Croke Park on an All-Ireland Final Day.
“That’s what we would obviously like to see. We need a person or people – it could be one person or it could be a combination of people who make that happen. That’s something now that we are starting to actively pursue.
“The title of manager shouldn’t hold a lot. To me a manager is a facilitator, but some of the most important people around any team are the skill coaches. That’s what I was exactly eluding too when I said it might be one person or it may be a group of people. ”
