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Anthony Daly relishing Crokes adventure

Anthony Daly pictured at the draw for the 2019 Championship at the RTE Studios.

Anthony Daly pictured at the draw for the 2019 Championship at the RTE Studios.

By Cian O'Connell

Anthony Daly's playing and coaching career has been filled with all sorts of rollicking adventures.

Now it is Kilmacud Crokes, who are benefiting from Daly's cocktail of passion and emotion as another Dublin SHC decider against Ballyboden St Enda's beckons.

A year ago Richie Stakelum, a selector when Daly managed the capital senior hurling team, had a word or two which captured the Clarecastleman's imagination.

“Just with Richie and Chris (Thompson) being there, the amount of times I gave out medals, between minor medals and I think I presented the senior medals in ’12," Daly says about how the Stillorgan outfit made a bid for him to succeed former Clare colleague Ollie Baker.

“I suppose when I launched the oul book, the Dublin version of it, I did it down there. It was obviously going to be quieter. So I suppose I had an affinity with them in some ways. But yeah, when the call came in last October, it was ‘that’ll be a long haul’.

“But the heart-strings were pulled by the Borrisoleigh man and Professor Thompson. So I said yeah, I’ll give it a lash. I didn’t know what I was getting myself in for. Except I knew Ollie was there. Obviously Ollie and myself would be good friends so a quick chat with him and I said ‘go on, I’ll have a go.'"

Kilmacud Crokes manager Anthony Daly pictured during the Dublin SHC Semi-Final.

Kilmacud Crokes manager Anthony Daly pictured during the Dublin SHC Semi-Final.

That has been most certainly the case with a stirring semi-final win over double All Ireland champions Cuala illustrating Crokes' improvement. “Yeah, it’s huge," Daly admits. "But ‘tis no cup. It would be great to knock out Cuala and be getting the Championship. To knock out Cuala and get a resurgent ‘Boden then is a totally different prospect.

“To be fair, by the time we left the dressing-room, we tried to numb all that. And just say ‘it’s done.’ We may be able to look back at it at the end of the year with a bit of fondness. But there’ll be no fondness if we lose the final.

“Realistically, the final is 50/50. Most people expected a ‘Boden/Cuala final. And they were giving ‘Boden a chance based all year with the work they’d done with Joe (Fortune). I don’t think they’ve lost a game all year between League and Championship. They gave us a good trimming in the League.

“Hopefully we’re coming good at the right time. We’ll need another couple of per cent. I know that might be tough on Cuala. But they were a long time on the road. And there is an element of that in it. I suppose all week before the Cuala match, our line was ‘can we ask the questions?’

“It’s very difficult to keep that hunger in the gut all the time. So can we ask the questions?"

A pumped up Crokes did just that, but Daly was always adamant about the potential which existed in the club. "Crokes to me were always contenders, good and all as Cuala were nothing keeps going forever," Daly says.

Richie Stakelum served as a selector when Anthony Daly was in charge of Dublin.

Richie Stakelum served as a selector when Anthony Daly was in charge of Dublin.

"Kilkenny four in a row, will the Dubs do five in a row? I said that I'd have it up there with the Dubs four in a row for a Dublin club team to win back-to-back was incredible, very well managed in terms of their timings and the breaks they gave their players coming back fresh again."

Daly was satisfied that Crokes survived despite a spirited late Cuala rally at the penultimate stage. "It nearly worked for them again, but I suppose we were slightly more ready for most periods of the game, we nearly blew it – credit them as well for that," Daly states. "I suppose you do go into a county knowing that there's a huge fish in there and then there's a whole pile of other fish that fancy themselves as well in Vincent's, Boden and ourselves and Lucan.

"It was going to be a challenge, but I suppose the draw was fairly kind to us in that you would have expected ourselves and Na Fianna to come out and be in the quarter-finals so you really had to be right for a quarter-final.

"We had that match with Na Fianna which was a very good game in good conditions under the lights and it was a good game, we tried a few things that stood to us against Jude's and then we learned more from the Jude's game again.

"We're this far and that's all, I know there isn't a word out of Boden and there wasn't a word about us until the Cuala game, we just have to accept that and take it on board, it's another game and the players are very clear on that, we'll need a massive performance."

Daly will have Crokes ready, willing, and able to deliver at Parnell Park, but Ballyboden will be treated with the utmost respect.