“Hurling in Dublin is very strong. Our challenge is to move things on”- Niall O Ceallacháin

By Paul Keane 

These are busy times for Niall O Ceallacháin. 

On October 26 the Na Fianna man will lead his club in another Go-Ahead Dublin senior hurling championship final, their fourth in a row.

That is an achievement in itself given that the Mobhi Road stick men only contested their first ever senior decider in 2021.

They are going for back-to-back titles to boot. Such progress clearly impressed those tasked with finding a new Dublin senior manager for 2025 because when Micheal Donoghue departed, O Ceallachain was thrown the reins. Which explains why his workload has just spiked.

"Obviously it's fairly hectic at the moment but there's great opportunity in that too," assured O Ceallachain.

Saturday week's county final against Kilmacud Crokes is his main focus right now but the desk of an inter-county manager is rarely clear. There are always items in the inbox to attend to.

Like attending the launch of Dublin GAA's new Staycity Aparthotels sponsored alternative kit which will be worn in selected matches throughout the 2025 and 2026 seasons. The event offers a chance to sit down and to consider the new challenge facing him.

Settling on a panel of players will be the first task.

"We're going to need everybody who wants to move this on to the next level, be that the existing panel but also maybe a few lads who haven't been around the thing over the last while either," said O Ceallachain. "We'll be looking at that over the next month or two."

Therein lies opportunity for players right across the county.

"As I said, we need everybody who has the interest, the application and the commitment mindset to bring this thing on," said the new manager. "The door is very much open for people."

O Ceallachain has agreed to a three-year term and how far Dublin can go in that period, and beyond, is an exciting thought. O Ceallachain is ambitious, without wishing to set any particular targets that must be achieved. The last time Dublin won the Leinster hurling championship was in 2013.

"There's a lot of water under the bridge since that team in 2013," he noted. "I have no real interest in looking back in that sense. It's easy to get frustrated by it but the flipside of that is what do you do about it? 

"The way I see it is that there has been a huge amount of work done to get Dublin to where it is now. On a regular basis the Dublin minor and U-20 and senior teams are all competitive on a level they weren't at previously.

"And a huge amount of work to get there has gone in. The reality is that the obvious challenge is to take that next step then, where you're consistently competing to win Leinster championships or All-Irelands.

"It has been in sporadic years where we have competed to win Leinster championships at senior level, or All-Irelands. They've been few and far between.

"But it is a fact that hurling in Dublin is in a very strong situation from a platform perspective and a structure side of things. The teams are consistently competing. The challenge now is how do we drive things on to be actually competing to win constantly when it comes to it. Our challenge is to move things on."

O Ceallachain is joined in the Dublin backroom by Na Fianna clubmate Nigel O'Hara, Ballyboden's David Curtin and Donal McGovern of Kilmacud Crokes. Did he go after a spread of people from different clubs, or just good people?

"Both," he said. "We talked there about the inter-county team being competitive at the highest level but there's a few clubs that have done that and are doing that, obviously us in Na Fianna the last couple of years are trying to be as consistent as we can at that high level. You have Crokes at the same level, the likes of Ballyboden previously for years were at the top and obviously made the final last year.

"From the outside looking in, aside from Na Fianna, it was really evident as one of their peers that just everything around those clubs and those people in terms of how they addressed things and approached things was of a very, very high level. That was very evident. I would also have known those lads for many years."

Dublin senior football manager Dessie Farrell will inevitably provide a sounding board at times for his clubmate.

"I've known Dessie since I was 10," said O Ceallachain. "Himself and a few other people have been helpful for sure, just to talk around the process of what's involved with this."

Even before he first encountered Farrell, O Ceallachain was playing for Na Fianna. He joined up as a seven-year-old and has been soldiering in, and for, the yellow and blue ever since. Now he's added the Sky Blue cause. Both are close to his heart.

"I'm a proud man from Dublin who very much cares about how the Dublin senior team is doing," he said. "There's a high level of motivation there to try to lead and to drive that to wherever it can go. I wouldn't have any interest in doing any other county. I wouldn't put the time, the effort, the headspace, everything really, into what's needed because I wouldn't absolutely love it to the core like I do with Dublin. That's how I see it."