THE Dublin senior footballers’ extended summer is set to have damaging repercussions for the county’s Under-21 hurlers who are now certain to be without Rory O’Carroll for their own All-Ireland semi-final against Galway.
O’Carroll, an All-Ireland U21 football medalist already this year, was involved in a tug-of-love between the respective managements prior to the Leinster U21 hurling final on July 14th when Pat Gilroy’s senior football management pulled him from small ball service owing to the proximity of the qualifier with Armagh just three days later.
Dublin won both matches, with O’Carroll only appearing for the footballers while the rest of his U21 hurling colleagues managed to beat Wexford in Parnell Park to set up a date with Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final on August 21st.
Ridiculous
That match is just 24 hours before the Dublin footballers take on Cork for a spot in the All-Ireland football final, meaning O’Carroll has no chance of being allowed play.
The decision to withdraw his service from hurling action the week of the Leinster U21 final drew considerable ire from Dublin senior hurling boss and U21 selector, Anthony Daly, who branded the situation as “ridiculous”.
However, Pat Gilroy insisted it was the correct call and admitted at the time that this particular situation could arise in the future.
“Look, it was the right thing for the Dublin football team — that’s my job,” said Gilroy.
“And we’ll also try, as much as possible, to accommodate Rory in his desire to do stuff in hurling. We might have another bridge to cross in another couple of weeks — and if we do, we do.”
– Conor McKeon – Evening Herald
