Conal Keaney is considering retirement from intercounty hurling. Speaking a day after he won a first Leinster club medal with Ballyboden St Enda's footballers, the former dual Dublin player told The Irish Times Second Captains podcast that he would be assessing his options within the next fortnight.
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I’m going to do in the future. I’m not getting any younger and the legs aren’t getting any fresher so I’d say I’ll have to make a call in the next couple of days or weeks. It’s not going to work trying to play both.
“I’m not under any pressure. It’s only fair for the club and the intercounty. I have to do what’s right for me and what’s right for Dublin whether that’s me staying on or me retiring I’m not sure yet.
“I’ll work it out myself and maybe talk to a few people I’d be very close to and who would be fairly honest in their opinions on what’s the best thing for me and Dublin, see what their opinion is and how I feel myself. Is it the right thing to retire? I’m not sure and will just have to wait and see over the next couple of days.”
Revival
Keaney (33) has been at the forefront of the Dublin revival this decade. A gifted underage hurler he also played on the first Dublin team to win an All-Ireland under-21 title in 2003 and played football at senior level until 2011 when he pledged himself exclusively to the hurlers under
Anthony Daly
.
The pay-off was immediate with the county winning a first hurling league in 72 years that May. Two years later he was on the first Dublin side to win the Leinster championship since 1961.
After an ultimately disappointing year with the county Keaney’s season has bloomed at club level with a county title last month followed by Sunday’s first provincial championship in a nail-biting final against Portlaoise.
This retirement intimation comes as bad news for Dublin hurling manager Ger Cunningham after earlier reports that 2013 All Star Danny Sutcliffe is dropping off the county panel for undisclosed reasons.
Meanwhile, Simon Lambert has been dropped from the Dublin senior hurling panel. Lambert is one of two players axed by Cunningham – 2014 Allstar nominated goalkeeper Alan Nolan the other.
