Senior Hurling Team Report: 2nd July 2025

Pleased with the Dublin performance and result against Limerick in the recent quarter final, Dublin manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin praised the team’s character and the level of energy displayed in the win. “The out of possession work was super”, said Niall, “and it was ultimately the winning of the game. It’s very hard to do that for a full inter county game these days, but obviously much tougher in those conditions and more so with 14 men. So we’re very pleased from that side of things”.

“The level of battle that Limerick brought and the level of respect that we would have for them is enormous. They’ve won five All-Ireland titles and have been so successful in that group for the past few years and all the work that they’ve done to reach where they have and where I’ve no doubt they will be again in the next few years. So we have huge respect for them".

Acknowledging the win and the result, Niall was keen to state that nothing has been won yet, “Yes we had a great win but when we came out of Leinster there were four games, four more steps along the way to the All-Ireland. We’re only halfway along that road, two down and two more to play. So while a brilliant win and a super performance from the lads against Limerick, we’re very much aware that there’s nothing won, and that all this will be long forgotten if we don’t follow through next Saturday”.

Looking forward to the Cork challenge in Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final, Niall said, “We’re very aware of the challenge that Cork will bring. They’re probably the form team across League and Championship in 2025 and the same in 2024 when they just fell short in the All-Ireland final, so we’re under no allusions as to the level of the challenge we’re going to face again on Saturday”.

Niall continued, “Undoubtedly we are, and we will be written off again. And that’s fine, but we’ll be focussed on ourselves and on what we’ll be bringing to the game. We’ll treat it as we treat every other game, we’ll do the work that we need to do and focus on ourselves and the levels of performance that we can bring. And after that there’ll be no excuses. If it’s good enough we’ll be onto step four of the four. And if it’s not good enough, it’ll be Cork going through, and that’s the nature of this competition”.

Concluding, Niall commented, “We’re very aware of the challenge, but we’ll be focussed on ourselves. We’re going to need to be better again than we were in the quarter final but we’re really looking forward to that challenge and to playing in a full house in Croke Park”.