Tomás Mulcahy is not a happy man. Hurling is his lifelong passion, but with his playing days long over and a lengthy stint in club management just finished, he has become an increasingly frustrated observer of the game he loves.

The former Cork and Glen Rovers stalwart, who is taking up the hurl once more on February 6 along with the likes of Jimmy Barry Murphy and Ger Cunningham when the Cork legends take on the Blackrock Legends in a 'Hurlathon', feels that hurling is destined to serve as the poor relation of the GAA unless urgent changes are made -- and he's definitely not talking about lip service.

From his vantage point, he believes the GAA are now just paying lip service to the game, and he has issued a stern challenge to the Association to, as he sees it, make meaningful attempts to restore hurling to full health.

"I've been looking on as a former player over the years and seen things happening that I didn't agree with," Mulcahy says. "And then as a club manager and county U21 selector I saw more issues crop up. Working with the Sunday Game and RTE gives you a chance to air your grievances, but the series of rule changes over the winter was the final straw as far as I'm concerned. I see hurling going down a route I don't like and I just had to speak up.

"I firmly believe that Christy Ring would turn in his grave if he could see what's happening. Mackey too. Other greats like DJ Carey and John Fenton, who did so much for the game in their time, must also be scratching their heads. It's easy to shoot your mouth off but I have strong feelings on the future of hurling and I want to back them up."

THE CHAMPIONSHIP

"First off, hurling needs a championship feeling to all of its games and much more pre- and post-match hype and promotion is needed to create a buzz. If this means the back door is eliminated, so be it -- a lot of players are thinking that way now anyway. Maybe it's time for an open draw with just one second back door chance for the losers' group. At least you'd be guaranteed an edge for every game.

"And speaking of a buzz, did hurling see any of it during the 125-year celebrations in comparison to the floodlit games, fireworks and razzmatazz that football received? Nope, hurling was the poor relation again. Can anyone name one outstanding promotion or feature we had for our game throughout the season? All the hype was football-related. Why did we not have fireworks for a hurling game? Surely fixtures don't come any better than Munster hurling final day. Yet there was no particular emphasis on this game or the Leinster final.

"They were just played off as normal. Hurling deserves more than that. Thank God for the All-Ireland final because that occasion had its own fireworks and they were badly needed. The bottom line is that our game is left lurking in the shadow of Gaelic football."

RULE CHANGES

The series of rule changes that will be in play for the forthcoming national leagues have exercised managers of both codes over the winter months, and Mulcahy admits he is not surprised. In fact, he feels the GAA has lost the plot with the introduction of compulsory helmets.

"In 125 years of our Association you could count on one hand the number of serious head injuries suffered by hurlers," he says. "So what message are we sending out to parents of young kids? Everyone has to wear a helmet now so automatically parents will deem ours a very dangerous game and little Johnny will be sent off to play some other sport. Our loss.

"Years ago, Mickey 'The Rattler' Byrne from Tipp described helmets as bird cages and he's right. Players should have the right to decide themselves, particularly at senior level, whether to wear them or not. It's their decision and their risk."

He also reckons that with the helmets, players will have less fear because their faces are protected and so hurling will become more physical in the process.

"I think lads will pull away because you simply can't hurt a player. Just look at American Football where there is no fear because the head is protected when players are jumping into tackles and that. What will the GAA bring in next, shoulder pads and shinguards? Watch this space; it's only a matter of time before we see the first cul baire to don a helmet with a sun visor attached."

The advent of compulsory helmets, he thinks, will leave referees with a lot more on their plate. And he wonders if match officials will be under instruction to deal with any interference to opponents' headgear, like pulling of straps and faceguards or tipping the helmet from behind.

"That stuff will go on even more now," he warned. "But referees should be instructed to issue a straight red card for any such offences. Look what happens when you are caught using your fingers illegally in rugby. You get a lengthy suspension for gouging and this offence in hurling should be in the same category. I'm telling you the side affects will be unsightly."

There's another fear the former Cork star harbours -- that one of the great skills of the game, free-taking, will suffer due to a new rule which prevents forward movement whilst negotiating placed balls.

"There was actually nothing wrong with the rules of hurling as they were," he said. "But what we have not done is learn from mistakes of the last few seasons and rather than dwell on the rules, why not look at areas where hurling can be improved?

"There are too many mistakes made by umpires waving a '65 wide or linesmen giving a sideline ball in the wrong direction. These have proven very costly in most important games. There's also not enough dialogue between the referee and his team of officials over key decisions. I would like to see referees taking an extra 30 seconds to consult before they decide what action to take.

"Why are we interfering with the art and skill of free-taking? That skill takes a lot of time to perfect. Any video or TV footage I saw of Christy Ring was mostly of him taking penalties and frees where he would lift cleanly and by the time the ash connected with leather again he was three foot closer to goal. How great it was to watch, to see the power and accuracy and speed of the shot. And on most occasions the rattle of the net.

"Let's remind ourselves of the free-taking skill of Eddie Keher, John Fenton, Declan Ryan, Davy Fitzgerald, DJ, Eoin Kelly and Henry Shefflin -- all with forward movement of the sliotar. If it is not broken why are we trying to fix it? On the other side there is nothing in the rule book to say that you cannot balance the ball on your hurley but this is the rule we should look to change, not the forward momentum one."

The much-maligned handpass will turn up the heat on referees who must deem whether a pass is legal or not. If they get the call wrong they can expect a backlash.

"To protect the ref, players should receive a straight red card for abusing him," Mulcahy says. "That should be in place already anyway and if it's implemented at senior level, it will filter down to underage where it is a growing problem from players and mentors."

Had he a blank canvas Mulcahy would seek the awarding of two points for a sideline ball to reward natural skill. He reckons implanting that proposal would be an incentive to keep the ball in play rather than clear it anywhere over the sideline and giving opponents a free puck.

He would make all club games 35 minutes and would have lobbied Croke Park to try and improve the structures of club championships where teams are lying idle for up to 11 weeks between their first and second games.

U21 CHAMPIONSHIP

Perhaps the biggest bugbear in his critique of the game is the structuring of the U21 championship, yet another example of hurling being the poor relation of the GAA, he claims. Indeed he states that his blood boils any time he conducts a comparison of how the U21 hurling series is staged against its football equivalent.

"Another joke," he sighs. "The U21 football championship will be done and dusted by late April/early May with no interference from the senior inter-county scene. By then, successful dual players have already made up their mind what game to choose for the summer and it's not hurling.

"But the U21 hurling championship is played in the middle of senior inter-county activity and amidst senior club championships. As manager you only see your star players on the Monday night before a Wednesday game. I've been there and seen that as an U21 selector too and you're usually preparing without your big names.

"For instance, I'm not taking from Waterford's performance at U21 level this year but were Tipp really focused on winning when they were going for a senior title too? Why can this championship not be run off in the same way as football -- let it be completed within a few weeks early in the year.

"You could have the college competitions run off just before the U21 started. At the moment, Fitzgibbon and Sigerson Cup teams have about six months to prepare and hold training sessions at 7.0am, lunch hour and again that evening. They have 90 to 100 training sessions before March before the really competitive action. Burn-out anyone? Don't get me wrong, they are serious, worthwhile competitions but need to be confined to a shorter time frame.

"Imagine a senior manager watching a guy impressing at college and then U21 level. He could call him up to the senior panel to develop him for the year. That's what Conor Counihan did last year with a number of Cork footballers."

DUAL PLAYERS

Mulcahy also refers to the last of a dying breed -- the dual player. He applauds his countyman, Eoin Cadogan's, determination to pursue a career in both codes.

"I support him 100 per cent because he's a young lad who looks after himself very well and knows full well that if he doesn't give it a go he'll regret it all his life. There will be only a few years in it before he gets older and has to make a choice but if you are good enough and have the talent, why not?

"There are players all over the country with special talent and commitment to play both codes or at least give it a try. But hurling seems to lose out. For example, as a selfish Corkman I would ask three of our most talented minor hurlers over the last few years to give hurling a go again. They know who they are, the likes of Ciaran Sheehan, Aidan Walsh and Colm O'Neill. These lads are seriously good with the big ball but equally as good with the small one.

"I just don't want to see hurling losing out anymore and I feel it's all one-way traffic at the moment. Our game is a key part of Irish culture and society but it can't prevail the way it's being treated."

CROWD PLEASERS

On a more aesthetic level he would remove the 'Bainisteoir' label managers' tops but would like to see players' names inscribed on the back of jerseys, feeling that helmets will only reduce player recognition among the public.

Sunday Independent

ANTHONY DALY and Conal Keaney were back in the same room yesterday, but that is as close as the Dublin hurling boss will get this year to a player he almost coaxed back to his small-ball roots.

Losing Keaney -- or, to be more strictly accurate, failing to win him back -- came as a blow to Daly for sure. Yet, as the Clareman made clear at the announcement of Dublin GAA's €4.65m, six-year sponsorship partnership with Vodafone, he has already moved on.

And so too, he hopes, will the Dublin hurlers as they embark on a critical season in their evolution.

DUEL

First, though, back to Keaney's conundrum, one finally resolved last week. At yesterday's swish launch in the Morrison Hotel, Daly was sitting right next to Pat Gilroy, the manager who eventually won out in this dual-star duel.

"We just put our case, that's all we could do," Daly pointed out. "Met him a couple of times, once before Christmas, once just after it. Like, I knew it was going to be a close call. I knew he was agonising over it. I knew he felt torn between both.

"He's a very sound lad to talk to, and all. And I knew hurling's in his blood. But, jeez, when you've five years invested with a team it's very hard to just turn your back on that. And I knew that was the big tug. What do you do if you choose the hurling and maybe the footballers go on and win an All-Ireland?

"Ah look, we accept it ... what can you do, only wish him the best of luck," he added. "Same as the O'Carrolls. They chose to go playing football and best of luck to them."

Certainly, securing all three would have greatly bolstered his options. On the flip-side, the senior hurlers performed heroically last term without Keaney, Rory O'Carroll or (for the most part) his older brother Ross. Even before reaching their first Leinster senior decider in 18 years, the beguiling prospect of league final qualification hovered into spring view.

And this year? "Look, we'd love to get to the league final," Daly admitted, while stressing the "every game as it comes" mantra and the first priority of avoiding relegation trouble. "There's no great big targets, league or championship," he went on. "Come championship, we've to meet the winners of Laois and Carlow, and there's no point in getting carried away. We can be beaten by those as easily as we can beat them."

Dublin fans of a pessimistic persuasion may look at this year's Division One programme -- away to Waterford, Offaly and Galway, at home to Tipperary, Kilkenny, Cork and Limerick -- as tougher on paper than last spring. Daly doesn't see it in such glass-half-empty terms.

"The traditional three big guns are coming to Dublin, whereas for some of the games in Dublin last year, maybe people fancied we could beat Clare, Waterford, Galway. This year we have Cork, Tipp and Kilkenny coming to Parnell -- but maybe that's more of an opportunity, I'd feel."

Last February, it's true, opportunity knocked for Dublin who were able to raid Páirc Ui Chaoimh while Cork's heavy-hitters were all on strike. Whereas this year they won't face crisis-hit Limerick until the last round and the Blues boss speculated -- maybe only half in jest -- that by then they'll "probably have things sorted out!"

Following the closed-season and its frost-bitten sequel, the Dublin hurlers are back "tearing into it" -- even though training has been somewhat fragmented with many of the younger bucks caught up in college GAA activity and/or exams. Michael Carton and to a greater extent Liam Ryan, both coming back from ankle ligament injuries, are the biggest doubts for that league opener in Waterford.

Even at this early stage, Daly has been won over by Shane Ryan's attitude -- not to mention the "few flashes" he showed against DIT in a challenge match last Sunday.

SIGNALS

The now former Dublin footballer is "making a fantastic effort. Now, obviously the hurling has to come up -- but he has time. Ultimately he has to try and be as good a hurler as he can for the sixth of June.

"The signals so far are huge. As well as doing our sessions, he's nearly the wall broke outside in Portmarnock. That's all he can do -- keep his head down; practice, practice, practice -- and fitness-wise he's really getting there quickly."

Likewise, Daly is confident that his three rookie sensations from '09 -- Liam Rushe, David Treacy and Oisin Gough -- can avoid the pitfalls of 'difficult second season syndrome'.

"I think they're made of the right stuff," he said, stopping to name-check several more of that U21 crew. "I didn't even know that they'd be anywhere near the first 15 this time last year. You'd see flashes and you'd heard about them, but I wouldn't have known them. I know them well now. Oh Jesus, I'd say they'll be integral parts of the set-up."

- Frank Roche

THE tug of war over Conal Keaney's inter-county future has not yet been resolved, despite the Ballyboden St Enda's man training with the Dublin footballers this morning.

Pat Gilroy's men kicked off their seasonal training campaign this morning at 6.30 am and are due to meet again tonight and though Keaney was in attendance, he has not yet committed his future to either the football or hurling set-ups for the coming season.

Keaney has met with the hurling management on a number of occasions since the conclusion of last year's inter-county activity and they are expecting to hear word on whether he will switch codes after this weekend.

Keaney captained the Evening Herald/Dublin Bus Dubs Stars footballers to victory over Dublin in last Sunday's annual opener in Fingallians but has remained tight-lipped over his intercounty intentions for the coming season.

Meanwhile, Alan Brogan is in danger of missing the start of the National Football League due to a hand injury picked up in club action late last year. The St Oliver Plunkett's/ER man damaged a scaphoid bone lining out in the AFL Division 1 semi-final defeat of St Sylvester's and aggravated the knock in the final. Since having the injury assessed, it has been confirmed that the former Dublin captain suffered damage to the scaphoid - a notoriously slow bone to heal.

Dublin's NFL Division 1 campaign gets under way on January 6 against All-Ireland champions Kerry in Killarney and the two times All Star could be forced out of the marquee fixture if the injury does not heal sufficiently over the coming weeks.

Brogan will almost definitely miss the upcoming challenge between past pupils of his former school, St Declan's, and Dublin on January 21 in Russell Park, though his brother, Paul, is due to make a comeback in the fixture after concluding his rehabilitation from a second cruciate ligament injury in just over a year.

- Conor McKeon

TWELVE months can be a long time in a season of Sundays.

Last year in Kilbarrack, Shane Ryan captained the Evening Herald/Dublin Bus Dubs Stars footballers to victory.

Yesterday at Fingallians, he wore the number 11 shirt for the Dublin hurlers.

The end of the 2001 season was the last time he hurled for the Dubs (an NHL Division 1 relegation victory over Antrim in Parnell Park). Within seconds of the start, he was back in business.

Shane found himself in a yard of space shooting for the scoreboard end. The sliotar drifted just inches wide.

It will take time and selfless dedication for the putts to fall.

Dublin manager Anthony Daly acknowledged as much.

"Shane needs tons of hurling, but, hey, this is just the start of it."

It was a raw afternoon to begin the road back. He played at centre half- forward in the opening half of the Evening Herald/Dubin Bus annual joust.

In the second period, he moved in to the full-forward berth. He scored a tidy point and laid on a peach of a pass for the in-form and lively Kevin Flynn.

Flynn's shot missed the net by inches. Flynner didn't miss much else. He enjoyed a double top of a day and finished as the afternoon's top scorer with an impressive tally of 1-6.

Daly wore a top coat that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Arnott's sale.

It was a day for buttoning up warm. There was still plenty of snow in the Swords suburbs.

In the housing estate across from the Lawless Memorial Park, the surface would have tested the balance and footwork of Torvill and Dean.

The fixture saw the first day of the players having to wear the helmet with a full face guard.

Christy Cooney was among the audience. The sun shone. A decent enough crowd looked on from the bank.

The Dublin chief felt they got good value. "It was fairly full-blooded, and the fellas gave it their all," said Daly.

"That was good to see. After all, it's only the third of January. It's not that easy to be motivated at this time of the year. We put it to them that we were using the game as a kind of a trial, so I think that was the best way to get something out of it.

"Obviously, there's a lot of ring- rustiness there. We'll now look towards the Walsh Cup at the end of the month.

"We won't have our College lads for that, so it's good to see what kind of depth we have. It's useful to see who is sharp and who's not.

"We could be missing eight or so of our College lads for the Walsh Cup, but that gives other fellas a chance," added the Dublin maestro.

Daly's Dubs are not out in Walsh Cup action until January 31 when they face the winners of the first round clash of Carlow and NUI Galway.

"But the real stuff starts for us on Tuesday night at training," he said. "The hard slog begins now. We'll get in as much hurling as we can."

Daly went on to applaud the displays of Niall Corcoran and David Curtin from his side, while he also singled out Liam Rushe of the Dubs Stars.

Rushe hit three elegant points before the break. Yet it wasn't easy for the Dubs Stars attack to make much impression.

grit

Dublin's defence wasn't giving out the last of the free wrapping paper. The National Roads Authority could have done with the grit of Oisín Gough, Stephen Hiney, Tim Sweeney and Tomás Brady who really guarded his square with style, power and serious tenacity.

Dublin could have won by more. They had 14 wides, six more than the Stars. Dublin had 2-8 to 0-7 in the bank at the interval. Curtin cracked in the first goal in the eight minute.

On the left, Peadar Carton nipped in to pick-pocket the Stars defence before setting up the Ballyboden man.

The second goal came from a Flynn free. John Kelly was also making an earnest contribution on the Dublin half-forward line.

The pace dipped following the tea. In the first pages of the second half, Ryan was unlucky with another strike before he let in Flynn and then popped over his own point.

The Stars tried to lift it. The Blue rearguard remained formidable. Kevin O'Loughlin's free sped to the net -- 2-14 to 1-10 with six minutes remaining on the clock but it was too little to late for his side.

The best goal of hurling's afternoon was yet to come. In the 58th minute, Maurice O'Brien turned like an ice skater and drilled a beauty to the net from some 30 metres.

Not bad for a player who usually occupies the right half-back berth. And on the first Sunday, the scribblers have placed it at number one on the goal of the season contender's chart.

It will take some shifting. A flash of Faughs lightning to embellish a winter's tale.

- Niall Scully