By Martin Crummy

As Walsh Cup’s go, this was a little more interesting for the Dublin hurlers than expected and that was because of one man, with the number 11 on his back.

He’s been out of the hurling game for the guts of nine years and his return hasn’t been anything like the prodigal son most Sky Blue supporters wanted. But still, Shane Ryan, at centre half forward for the Dublin hurlers, is being tried and will be tried until the sod hardens, and Shane shows his true potential.

Anthony Daly maybe taking a risk, but it is something he has to do.

Already he has lost Ross O’Carroll from his forward line – a man that was pencilled in to be the muscle in the full forward line, so when the Dublin hurling boss is presented with the 2008 football All-Star, he has to make him work.

At centre half forward Ryan is a commanding figure, but in games so far he has yet to catch fire.  He’s been moved to full forward for some exchanges, but a ball winning man in the half forwards is what Dublin need.

A sluggish start at the Dub Stars in early January by Ryan, wasn’t helped by a lacklustre Walsh Cup.

An early point and assist for a free against NUIG in the Dub’s first competitive outing of the season, saw some good early promise, but this faded and he was replaced by seasoned campaigner Stephen Hiney.

It is obvious, though, that Daly will give his new rising son all the time possible to become the hurler he can be.

Daly has been at pains in the media to play down his football convert.  He tells us that we should give him time, lay off and stop the hype, but there is little we can do when Dub punters on the Hill are thinking the best chance of Sky Blue silverware this season, may well come by way of the hurl and sliotar.

The Clare man is playing the game, giving his great white hope some room to breathe and time to catch his breath – since his last competitive game for Dublin hurling was a league play-off against Antrim in 2001.

Ryan – a school teacher – is trying to stay out of the headlines and concentrate more on the hurling wall in Portmanock.

However, when asked about his own form, he is quick to realise the road that must be travelled.

“Every game I play it’s getting a bit more comfortable. I’m enjoying it, but as the year goes on it’s going to get harder,” he half smiles.

“It’s a learning curve for me. In fairness to Anthony Daly, he hasn’t seen much of me as a hurler.

“It’s still very early in the season. There’s a long way to go.

“There’s so much talent and potential in the Dublin squad. I suppose if they were picking a panel now, I’d be lucky to be coming in at number 30.

“It’s a case of taking it one game at a time and the more game time you get the better. That applies to every sport, everybody wants to be playing all the time.

“It was a step up to what I have been used to. The Walsh Cup was another step up and then the League after that.”

Conal Keaney has been swayed to stay with the footballers, and with the O’Carroll brothers gone the same way, you can understand Daly’s patience with the Naomh Mearnog man.

You can understand too, how he will rely on some of the veteran’s of the team to see them through the league and into the bigger games in the summer.

Kevin Flynn and David Curtin are both prime exchanges of the older hurlers, proving themselves in early season combat.

Both have been in good early season form, with each of them netting 1-02 against NUIG in the Walsh Cup quarter-final.

Add this to Flynn’s 1-06 against the Dub Stars and it is obvious that the two boys are in flying form.

Training for the Dubs is full of the hard early season slog, but both Flynn and Curtin are showing the appetite for a long season in the hurling sky blue.

This is just the attitude that Daly is looking to instil ahead of an important league campaign.

“They (Flynn and Curtin) are really training hard and they up the front of every run and they are really pushing on the pace – it is great to have that sort of attitude in the camp,” enthused the Clare man.

In that quarter-final win over NUIG, Daly re-jigged his defence with Mick May, Colm Hennebry and David Byrne coming in to line up with, the experienced Gary Maguire and Ronan Fallon.

The experiment worked with Byrne and Hennery  - at number 3  -particularly standing out.

Throw-in Daly’s continued perseverance of playing Shane Ryan on the ‘40 and it is obvious that he is trying to build a squad for the season ahead.

“But you still have to give Fella’s a crack, said Daly.

“Fella’s like Dave Byrne did very well, Colm Hennerbry picked up an injury at half time so he was substituted.

“These are the days to see them.”

Certainly these are the days to see Ryan and allow him to be a passenger for much of the game. Come the summer when the likes of Galway, Wexford and Kilkenny are waiting in the Leinster long grass – no passengers can be allowed to stay on board.

To be fair, Daly knows and appreciates this.

He’ll keep going though, trying Ryan out until the very last minute and all he can really do now is cross his hurley and pray that his new forward can find the form and technique he was born with.