Ger Cunningham
By John Harrington
Ger Cunningham says he hopes to return as Dublin hurling manager for the 2017 season.
The Cork native has been in charge for the last two years, and believes his term will now extend to a third.
“There’s a process ongoing,” said Cunningham yesterday. “It’s like anything. In any game, you just review what happened this year.
“You review the two seasons and see where we’re going to go. But the plan would be to…when all that is in order, what all that is sorted out, it will be in place.”
Since Cunningham took charge of the team he’s overseen a period of transition that has seen the break-up of the side that played under his predecessor Anthony Daly and the introduction of a host of promising young players.
“I suppose like anything, your first year in, you nearly inherit a panel,” says Cunningham. "I suppose not knowing the setup and the players when you go in first, you nearly look at the previous years panel and work with them.
“I suppose from the point of view of whether it would have happened so quickly in relation to the evolution of the team and that sort of thing, I was opened-minded about it.
“I was waiting to see what we had and what players we had available. So maybe it’s happened a bit sooner that what we had planned in relation to the changeover and the lads who have come in in the last while.
“We are heading into year three. It’s changing, there are younger players coming through all the time. That’s the same in any team, you are always trying to add. The younger guys have put their hands up to be selected and have come in and made the transition from Under-21 to senior. We are looking across the board, not just at Under-21s, we are looking at the club scene as well.”
Dublin manager Ger Cunningham.
Cunningham’s short-term ambition is to get Dublin back competing at the business end of the Championship like they last did in 2013 when they reached the All-Ireland semi-finals.
“That’s the challenge and that’s the plan. That’s what we need to do. You saw how good last weekend was. The work that is needed to get in there is difficult and it’s hard. The standard is very high across the board, fitness and skill levels and all of that.
“To get to that level is the challenge. We haven’t been in an All-Ireland semi-final since 2013. You are going into four years since that happened. Like anyone, we all start out at the start of the year with ambitions to try and win the MacCarthy Cup on the first Sunday in September.
“But we have to be realistic as well from our point of view. You saw the standard last weekend, they are the top four and we have to make sure that gap doesn’t get any bigger.”
