David O’Callaghan says he has no qualms with Pat Gilroy's surprise decision to step down as Dublin senior hurling manager.

While admitting that Gilroy’s departure on Sunday night after just eleven months at the helm came as a shock and that there was "huge hope" for next season, ‘Dotsy’ points out that the 2011 All-Ireland SFC winning manager left Dublin hurling in a better place than he found it:

“Everyone was looking forward to seeing where it could go next year,” the St Marks clubman told The Irish Sun. “The shock is there but the commitment levels involved in managing an intercounty team are huge. If you can’t give that, it’s totally understandable. It is disappointing but he has left it in a fairly good place for somebody to come in and drive it on.

“Pat had done a huge job in year one, he gelled a lot of older and newer players back in together. Realistically, Dublin could have easily been in a Leinster final and an All-Ireland quarter-final.

“It was unfortunate that they never got the opportunity to play in those big games and progress a bit more. There was a huge hope that Pat would build on that next year and he obviously has his own commitments. Initially, it is a blow, with how it was developing, but Dublin is in a good place. He left it in a very good place and the squad is due to get stronger.”

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