Dublin have confirmed the appointment of Pat Gilroy as their new senior hurling manager on a three year term.
The man who brought Sam Maguire back to the capital in 2011, ending a 16 year wait for Gaelic football’s biggest prize, was confirmed on Wednesday morning following a meeting of the Dublin county committee.
Gilroy stepped away from the footballers following the 2012 season, citing work commitments abroad, but the successful businessman has been based in Dublin for the last six months.
In his Irish Times column last month, Jim McGuinness explained how; "It was under Pat Gilroy's watch that Dublin began to run the senior team as a business."
Gilroy seen off competition from Cuala's All-Ireland club hurling-winning manager Mattie Kenny. Details of the full management team have yet to be announced, with former Galway manager Anthony Cunningham set to be named as team coach.
Cunningham is another to have put his hand to managing both codes. The former All-Ireland winner with the Tribesmen in 1987 and 1988 also won county and provincial titles with St Brigid’s footballers in his adopted county of Roscommon, and Garrycastle in Westmeath.
A member of the 1995 All-Ireland winning Dublin team, Gilroy also has some crossover experience in hurling. The 45-year-old made his hurling senior debut with St Vincent’s before his football breakthrough.
He is expected to recruit several established players such as Mark Schutte and Danny Sutcliffe, who either left or were dropped off the panel by former manager Ger Cunningham, back into the set-up.
The 2017 season was one to forget for Dublin hurling, with a combined losing margin of 36 points in their championship defeats to Galway and Tipperary. The Dubs will begin 2018 in Division 1B of the Allianz Hurling League.
