O'Grady's foresight benefits Dublin

Michael O'Grady deserves some of the kudos for the Dublin hurling revival that has been the story of the current National Hurling League. He deserves it for more immediate reasons than his long-running commitment to the game in the city, which saw him manage the side that reached the quarter-finals 10 years ago.

Last October at the GAA special congress to review intercounty competitions there was a proposal to institute a new nine-county Division One this year rather than in 2008 when it comes into effect. Had O'Grady not trenchantly opposed the move Dublin's best league season in 17 years might have been stillborn.

"I think a major breakthrough for Dublin is close," he says, "but the structures are important and could hinder progress. We were not supposed to be in Division One. The HDC (Hurling Development Committee) proposals would have put us out of the planned group of nine - a number that makes no sense because you're going to have an idle team every week; it was picked because the HDC didn't have the bottle to cut one of the big counties and make it eight. If that had happened I'm convinced some players would have walked after all the work put in to getting promotion. Fortunately we made a strong argument and other counties supported us."

O'Grady maintained a sense of optimism about Dublin hurling long before the current uprising, which sees the seniors on the verge of reaching the league play-offs for the first time in 10 years. O'Grady was manager of the team that reached the quarter-finals that lost to Tipperary. It was during his tenure O'Grady, a highly regarded coach, forecast Dublin would win an All-Ireland within eight years. "That was 1998," he said, "and Dublin won the colleges All-Ireland last year and Kilmacud won a Féile the year before. I don't think I meant my senior team was going to win the MacCarthy Cup."

Looking at the current crop of players, predominantly young products of the development system that has turned the county into Kilkenny's closest competitors at underage level in Leinster, O'Grady sees a qualitative difference in this team compared to his side of the late 1990s. "I think so. The batch of players I had weren't young - it simply got a good run. The current team are a crowd of young lads with the exception of Kevin Flynn and Liam Ryan. They play a better brand of hurling as a team and would be more skilful than the side I had.

"They showed great technique in Limerick. There's a great picture in one of the papers of a player clearing the ball and holding his hurley halfway down the handle. In the old days someone would have been giving it full swing and would have been hooked. Instead he shortened the grip."

The traditional bane of Dublin hurling's prospects has been the dual issue and the number of talented hurlers on the football panel bears that out. There is, however, evidence the underage structures are producing a steady stream of young players content to give hurling their full attention.

"Look at Ger O'Meara," says O'Grady. "He spent two months on the football panel because he was a great prospect but he didn't want to stay in the dugout for two or three years and decided to come back. At squad level the development committees have decided there are to be no dual players after under-15. There's a good reason. Ten out of a panel of 30 would typically be dual players and eight of them will give up hurling and concentrate on football having taken the places of hurlers, who might have been late developers and could have benefited from involvement in the squads.

"There was just one squad per year three years ago. Now there are three. We're broadening the base all the time and hope to enter another Dublin team into the colleges' competition. A massive effort is being put into the game and Parnell Park (Dublin County Board) deserve a lot of the credit."

•Friends of Dublin Hurling is organising a golf classic on 31st May, to raise funds for the county teams, at Castlewarden Golf and Country Club. The fee for teams of four is €400. Bookings and details from Michael O'Grady at 087-2331983.