YOU couldn’t make it up. The three men who masterminded Galway’s All-Ireland triumph six years ago are now working willingly behind enemy lines.

What’s more Micheál Donoghue, Noel Larkin and Franny Forde are involved with the county which helped to bring about an end to their own tenure with the Tribesmen in 2019.

Throw in the fact that two Kilkenny men – Henry Shefflin and Richie O’Neill – are at the helm in Galway, it underlines that the flow of inter-county managerial traffic has no borders these days.

It will be a curious sight to see Donoghue, Larkin and Forde trying to engineer their native county’s downfall in a match at Croke Park on Sunday (2pm) in which both teams must get a result from.

It gives insider trading a new meaning, but leaving aside divided loyalties, we are beginning to see a stirring in Dublin hurling again with lots of new faces stepping up to this level. Eoghan O’Donnell, Paddy Smith, the supremely accurate Donál Burke, Cian Boland and Danny Sutcliffe are still going strong, but there is a freshness to Dublin this year.

With seasoned operators like Eamonn Dillon and Liam Rushe unavailable, Donoghue has spread his net far and wide in trying to unearth new talent. The results have been mixed but Dublin have improved since drawing their opening championship tie with Antrim.

Wins followed against Westmeath and a wasteful Wexford before losing out to Kilkenny (0-27 to 0-21) against Kilkenny at Nowlan Park last Sunday. It was an encouraging display, however, considering they had to field without Ronan Hayes, whose campaign has been restricted due to a hamstring injury.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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