The Ballyboden St Enda’s man has not hurled with the Dubs since 2004, when he decided to concentrate solely on playing football at inter-county level.

Since then he has won five Leinster GAA Football Championship medals, but was more of a peripheral figure last year and was restricted, in the main, to substitute appearances under Pat Gilroy.

Long coveted by a string of Dublin hurling managers, Keaney has finally been convinced to switch allegiances to hurling having met with Dublin boss Anthony Daly in recent weeks.

Speculation mounted over his future when he failed to appear at Dublin’s first football training session of the year at Clontarf on Tuesday morning.

Since his decision to quit the inter-county hurling scene at the start of the 2005 season, Keaney continued to play at Club level with Ballyboden and was, arguably, the most influential player in their run to four successive Dublin Senior Hurling Championships.

In his debut season at inter-county level, in 2003, Keaney was nominated for a GAA All Star in hurling.

Gaa.ie