TIMES ARE CHANGING for Dublin Camogie.
The last few weeks alone have brought two interesting announcements: a big departure from the senior side first, but then came a welcome addition.
Kilkenny All-Ireland winning goalkeeper David Herity resigned from his managerial position after three years involved, confirming the news in a statement on Twitter.
The five-time champion first joined the set-up in 2015 as a coach before then taking the reins as manager in September 2016 and driving on from there.
Last year, he saw 27 years of history erased as he guided the Sky Blues to their first All-Ireland semi-final since 1990.
This summer, they bowed out at the quarter-final stage following a comprehensive 0-20 to 0-4 loss to Galway. That said, they won more games in total in competition in 2018.
With her side made considerable progress under Herity, Dublin full-back Eve O’Brien is understandably sad to see him go.
“Ah, it was disappointing I think for everyone including himself,” the Na Fianna star said at the AIG Dublin GAA jersey launch on Thursday.
“The plan was for him to continue but just the way things worked out. We are just extremely grateful to have had him. We had a great relationship with him. He developed as a manager, we developed as players through the three years having built a great bond together as a team.
“Still have it, alright but we can’t thank him enough really. He’s the best coach and manager that I’ve come across. He’s not perfect, but I just feel that that was a huge growth for the team.
“You can see yourself the development that’s happened over the few years. We’re just hoping to keep that upward momentum and drive on with whoever comes in his place.”
One thing that has certainly brought momentum over the last few days is Philly McMahon’s undertaking of the Head of Performance role.
The six-time All-Ireland champions’ company BeDo7 is forming an exciting partnership with the set-up and the Ballymun defender will oversee the strength and conditioning of all Dublin squads from U14 to senior.
“It’s good to see partnerships like that,” O’Brien enthuses.
“We’ve got a fairly good strength and conditioning. We’ve been doing that already ourselves but for juvenile, it’s good. It’s a good lift. For ourselves, we’ll continue the work we’ve been doing in that sense. Hopefully under a new management, it’ll drive the whole thing on as well.
“Sometimes it’s good to freshen up as well. It can bring something different to the team that you might not have before. We just want to keep this group together as well. That’s an issue we’ve had: people coming and going from the team. We want to build that commitment for the next few years.”
And to have a name like Philly McMahon’s associated with Dublin Camogie?
“You can only look at it positively. It’s good to see the joined-up (thinking) across Dublin GAA with us and with Parnell Park and that. It can only be good to have those links between the two. Hopefully the two county boards can work well together.
“It’s (McMahon’s new role) been in the news throughout the week. It’s definitely building on the brand, and the morale of the team as well.”
And for the senior team, next year is most definitely crucial.
O’Brien hopes that they can build on their prior progress and having not competed well in the Littlewoods National League over the past few years, give that a good rattle.
Cork and Kilkenny may be the top two by quite a margin, but the chasing pack is most definitely coming.
“They’re not unbeatable teams….. we’ll catch them one of these days.”
Dublin stars Brian Fenton, Chris Crummey, Olwen Carey and Eve O’Brien were on hand today to help Dublin GAA and sponsors AIG Insurance to officially launch the new Dublin jersey at AIG’s head office.
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