Oisin Gough has pleaded with Anthony Daly to remain in charge of the Dublin hurlers for a third year.

Daly's future has been in doubt since Dublin's shock All-Ireland qualifier defeat to Antrim last month, but speaking ahead of the Dubs' Bord Gais Energy All-Ireland U21HC semi-final against Galway on Saturday, senior star Gough urged the former Clare captain to continue.

"I personally would like to see him stay on," he said.

"He's an excellent manager. Everyone gets on very well with him. He's the right man for the job and I think it would encourage him. He likes what's coming up through the ranks and the set-up at underage and is very encouraged by it. It's his decision and whether he feels the seniors are going well enough next year is another story."

Gough admitted that the absence of David Treacy, Shane Stapleton and Paul Schutte through injury and dual star Rory O'Carroll due his involvement with the senior footballers against Cork on Sunday have been huge blows to the Dubs' chances of reaching the All-Ireland under 21 decider.

"Treacy and Stapleton are two huge losses," he conceded.

"They're very unfortunate with two serious cruciate injuries. The mood in the camp wasn't great after we heard. It was a huge blow. Shane would be our main free-taker and Treacy our main scoring threat. Paul Schutte has kind of been gone all year and Rory will be a huge loss again. He was excellent against Kilkenny.

"But we knew with Rory that senior inter-county football is where his commitment is. He has his eye on the prize there to win an All-Ireland and what more would you want? So we kind of knew that the team would be shifted around all year, we just weren't expecting as many injuries. We just have to soldier on and we've lads pushing to get in." Tweet

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