Eoghan O’Donnell says Pat Gilroy’s sudden departure as Dublin hurling manager came as a real shock to the players.

Gilroy stepped down in September, only eleven months after taking charge, and has since been succeeded by Mattie Kenny.

“When Pat left it was like a death in the family almost, it was a shock to everyone,” O’Donnell reflects in The Irish Independent.

“We had such a good year last year and it came out of the blue completely. I was in Croatia on holiday and he phoned me - I was thinking, 'this is about physio or something', so it was like a bomb dropped. It was very disappointing.

“Things took a while to settle down and Mattie probably was the first choice between the players - his record speaks for itself - and Cuala have been such an explosive team the last few years so players were kind of delighted to get the ball back rolling after a few weeks of not being sure what was happening.

“So, when Mattie was announced the players were delighted and are looking forward to getting back into it.”

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