A DELIGHTED ANTHONY DALY promised to enjoy his finest moment as Dublin manager “for a few hours.”
But the man who steered the Dubs to their first Leinster hurling title since 1961 is not getting carried away by the excitement sweeping the capital.
Bookmakers last night made Dublin 4/1 second favourites to go all the way and win the All-Ireland after their 12-point rout of Galway in front of almost 37,000 fans in Croke Park.
“I think the lads revel in this place when they’re going well,” Daly said as he tried to soak up the historic 2-25 to 2-13 win.
“If you’re playing with confidence I suppose it’s the place to play really. The Dublin crowd were magnificent as well, they really got up behind them right from the start and they were like an extra man to be honest.”
Paul Ryan led the charge with a goal in either half for an individual tally of 2-7 but it was a day marked by superb performances across the field for Dublin.
Trailing by eight points at the break, the closest Galway came in the second half was when Joe Canning and David Burke fired a goal apiece in quick succession to bring them back to within six.
But after each goal it was Dublin who responded immediately with the next score and it was that character and determination that ensured they held strong to the finish.
Daly celebrates with Niall Corcoran at the final whistle (©INPHO/Morgan Treacy)
“We mentioned that they were going to have a patch,” Daly said. “It’s hard to keep the likes of Joe Canning down all day. Kell [Peter Kelly] had a great game I think and anyone who was marking him did very well I think.”
He singled out the towering presence of man of the match Conal Keaney who really shone when Galway threatened to draw themselves back into contention in the final quarter.
“The Kilkenny goal in the drawn match where Johnny [McCaffrey] went up and got the score straight away was a good reference point to have.
“In fairness to Conal I thought he was immense there when we wanted him to put up his hand. You go on about gameplans and stuff but that’s down to raw courage, the belief and courage to stick up your hand at a time like that.
It’s great to look out and see that. It would sort of bring you back to the days of [Séanie] McMahon beside you going up saying ‘stay down, I’ll win this one’ and he would.I’m delighted for Conal as well, to make the decision to come across to hurling and then have a day like that today.
With their 52-year provincial hoodoo finally broken, talk quickly turned to the possibility of Dublin ending an even longer drought and lifting the Liam McCarthy Cup for the first time since 1938.
Daly knows that the hardest games are still to come though and won’t be sucked in by the blue fever.
“You can’t be thinking about trophies. That’s why we didn’t think about a trophy today, we just thought about our performance and we got that. We have to try and get that again for a semi-final.
“I’m not going to talk about All-Irelands. I’m going to enjoy this, take a few days to ourselves and get back on Thursday or Friday and start preparation for the semi-final.”
