DUBLIN CAMOGIE MANAGER David Herity is no stranger to success.
A winner of five All-Ireland senior hurling medals with Kilkenny, he oversaw his charges to an emphatic win in Semple Stadium on Saturday.
Dublin booked their place in the All-Ireland semi-finals for the first time since 1990, as they overcame a much-fancied Wexford side.
2015 saw Dublin reach the quarter-finals of the championship, but they failed to progress from the group stages last year.
Herity took the reins as manger last September following that disappointment, and has now etched some history — successfully leading his side to their first All-Ireland semi-final in 27 years.
Afterwards, his delight was evident. Speaking to RTÉ, Herity ranked Saturday’s feat as up there with his numerous successes with hurling powerhouse Kilkenny.
“We’ve been hitting 30-minute and 40-minute games but we hadn’t produced the 60 minutes,” the former Cats goalkeeper said. “We knew it was in them though and they showed there today. It was an incredible performance.
'I'm delighted...it's a credit to everyone' - Dublin manager David Herity on their win over Wexford pic.twitter.com/PxNDs9Hwvd
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) August 5, 2017
“We knew how good Wexford are. They’re in the semi-finals every single year. It’s 1990 since Dublin were in a semi-final. We knew we were up against it. It’s great. 27 years of history gone anyway!
“We were feeling very confident going in. I know people had us as 6/1 outsiders but we knew deep down ourselves what we could do when we put our minds to it. The work rate, the skill that’s in the team, we’ve been saying it all year.
“There’s a revolution happening in Dublin. The U16s, the minors, the premier juniors were all in All-Ireland semi-finals. It was up to us to stand up to the plate and get the seniors into it and we’ve done our job. I’m delighted.”
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Herity will surely have relished the performance of his goalkeeper Faye McCarthy, who saved a penalty and added two points.
In her first year with the team, the 20-year-old put on a stellar display between the posts and was named Player of the Match.
“We’re absolutely delighted,” she told RTE afterwards. “It was really hard-fought. They were within three points of us for most of the time.”
She spoke earlier this summer of how she’s been learning from Herity, and that’s all come to fruition through the championship.
“We do a goalie session 30 minutes before training,” McCarthy told Daragh O’Conchúir. ”Anything he says is gold. I’ll take it all on board because he knows what he’s talking about.”
Dublin now face their manager’s native county in the last-four, and will go into it as even bigger underdogs.
Anne Downey’s side are reigning All-Ireland champions and have won the last two Division 1 National League titles.
For now though, Herity and the Sky Blues will enjoy their achievement. And then it’s back to business.
“We know we’re going to have to up it again, but it’s great to be there.”
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