By Cian O'Connell

Pat Gilroy will take charge of the Dublin senior hurling team in 2018.

Dublin GAA has released a statement confirming that Gilroy has been given a three year term.

The St Vincent's clubman guided Dublin to All Ireland football glory in 2011. Sean Shanley, Dublin GAA Chairman, is encouraged that Gilroy has assumed the role. "It is an exciting time, hopefully it will be successful, only in hindsight will we know whether it is the right decision or not, but we will hope for the best," Shanley told GAA.ie.

"Pat has the respect of everyone in Dublin. He brought the footballers to All Ireland glory, hopefully he can do the same with the hurlers."

Gilroy earned significant praise for implementing a high class training set-up when managing the Dublin football team. "Very much so, he put a lot in, facilities wise as much as everything else," Shanley says. "The attitude to training was great, he is a very good man manager so hopefully that will all rub off on the hurlers."

Details of Gilroy's backroom team will be announced shortly. "Until he was officially installed he couldn't really talk to people," Shanley remarked.

"He has ideas about who he wants and from today on he can ask people he wants to come with him now that he is there. I would say he should have them all in about a week or so."

With Jim Gavin's Dublin football outfit recently claiming a third All Ireland in a row Shanley acknowledges it is a special era for Gaelic Games in the capital.

"It is a super time, it is great," Shanley accepts. "There is great goodwill there for the brand of football Dublin are playing. Hopefully the hurlers can do the same.

"Our Under 21s won the football All Ireland so everything is very good. We've had good club games for the past few weekends and we are looking forward to the football semi-finals this weekend."