By John Harrington

Dublin forward Cian Boland believes the county hurlers are well positioned to make forward strides under new manager Pat Gilroy.

His predecessor Ger Cunningham’s reign ended with heavy championship defeats to Galway and Tipperary this year, but Boland believes there are reasons to be cheerful about the team’s future.

“You just have to take the positives out of what happened last year,” said Boland yesterday when he was announced as one of six inter-county GAA players to receive Masters scholarships at DCU Business School.

“There were a lot of young players brought into the setup and a lot of them did very well.

“And with the new change…it’s good to have a Dublin person involved. If he puts the structures in places, the rest will do itself.”

Boland is hopeful he can finally put his knee injury woes behind him in 2018 and play his part in Gilroy’s Dublin hurling revolution.

“The last two years were tough,” said Boland. “I got an operation in October of last year and I kind of came back over the summer so I’m looking get it sorted now.

“Patella tendonitis. It’s an inflammation just below the bone. The operation I got done was just scrapped out calcification, which is like bone growing in the tendon.

“But then it kind of came back again, so I’m looking to get it sorted once and for all.

“My main goal now is getting back playing. I’m not looking at anything else. Just focusing on getting myself fit and the rest will look after itself.”

Boland is looking forward to the new Championship structure that will see the provincial campaigns played off oin a group format in 2018.

“It’s definitely a better way to do it,” he said. “Because last year, I think after our first match, we were waiting five weeks to play another game.

“Summer is the time you want to be playing as well. So I think it’s a good change.

“If you have consistent games it helps. It’s tough to keep the motivation going and keep the tempo going when you have gaps of six weeks in the summer.”