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Michel Donoghue has brought Galway to next level

Dublin star Cian O'Sullivan full of praise for what his old boss is doing

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Bord Gis Energy Ambassador and Dublin Senior hurler Cian O'Sullivan and Derek Foley. discuss just how to hold a hurl and how not to hold a hurl...

Galway have brought the Bob OKeeffe Cup west of the Shannon already this summer and have more silverware in sight.

Dublin All Star Cian OSullivan insists that on the evidence of this season they have the firepower to bring the Liam McCarthy Cup towards the setting sun too in Sundays All-Ireland final with Limerick at Croke Park.

Their nine-point semi-final win over Cork a fortnight ago was superb - in particular their second-half masterclass when they outscored the Rebels by 1-14 to 0-5.

However, dont underestimate their 4-29 to 4-15 Leinster final victory over Dublin earlier this summer either.

Its no accident that the Tribesmen were the provincial Championships top scorers by some distance.

OSullivan missed the Leinster final through a late injury but he knows all about the Tribesmen and their manager Michel Donoghue.

Galway are a very tight group, says OSullivan ahead of tomorrows repeat of the 2018 final.

You saw that in their performances against us.

They celebrated that Leinster final win - as tough as it was for us to see it happening - like something coming thatthey needed over the last few years.

And fair play to them, they backed it up again against Cork.

I watched the game back and they hunted in packs, played for each other and Michel (Donoghue), as a manager, Im sure he will be delighted with where they are.

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7 June 2026; Bord Gis Energy Ambassador and Dublin Senior hurler Cian O'Sullivan put participants through their paces at Kilmacud Crokes GAA Club as part of Bord Gis Energy's Know Your Power campaign. The activation challenged participants to test the speed and power of their strike using Bord Gis Energy's 'Watt the Puck' technology, with scores ranked on a live leaderboard, bringing the excitement of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship to life through Bord Gis Energy's continued sponsorship of the competition. Cian O'Sullivan and Derek Foley.

Clarinbridge legend Donoghue was in charge for Galways 2017 All-Ireland win - the most recent time that Liam MacCarthy has spent the winter in the west - and then wore the Dublin tracksuit from August 2022 to August 2024.

Michel was our manager for two years there and he tried to bring in that free-scoring style and maybe we didnt have the personnel or the type of player to execute it in the manner that he envisaged it.

But thats the way Galway are playing now, the athleticism they have in their half-forward line and their ball-winning ability in the full-forward line.

Sure, any team that puts seven or eight lads behind the 65 youre going to find it hard to score against and they just nullified Corks inside forwards and from there it was their platform.

There is individual talent to lift the western group when needed too - and it is hard to look past the two Ahascragh-Fohenagh Mannions, at right wing-back and left corner-forward.

Those two lads, Padraic and Cathal, are doing it now for a decade together and when Cathal Mannion has the ballin his hands, it could go anywhere.

Last year, looking at him, he could get the ball anywhere in the pitch and youre all right, this is danger now.

Hes a remarkable man and just to have his ball striking ability - its the top in Ireland at the moment and you have to be looking out for it the whole time.

It is a little odd to think that Dublin may end up being the only side to defeat Galway in the 2026 Championship - but the Tribes performance in the second encounter in the Leinster decided at HQ showed their class.

All in all, that June 6 encounter was a testament to the progress that the Leinster Championship is making and few now have reservations surrounding the Tribesmens presence in the eastern province.

OSullivan believes the Dubs are getting closer to the top and have benefited from Galways presence in the Leinster Championship.

Its kind of like you have to have the pieces of the puzzle before you can finish the puzzle and we believe its all there and theres one or two performances every year that kind of let us down, and its disheartening, says OSullivan.

I wasnt involved on Leinster final day and you could just feel the energy getting sucked out of the crowd.

There was a couple of mistakes here and there and Galway got a few scores on the run. If that didnt happen then wed be in a far better place so its kind of like we get to go so far and...

But were in a fortunate position where we get to regroup and look at those games and say look, do two or three things, were in a far better place.

A vibrant Dublin would be a major boost for hurling with OSullivan noting an unusual occurrence of late - those outside of the county who wish them well.

Theres a lot of love out there for Dublin hurling all over the country, not that people are sick of the same teams winning over again but for this to help make the Championship be even more competitive again, says OSullivan.

And I think people outside of Dublin believe that we can do it and thats reflected in the group as well.

If you look back at it, Kilmacud Crokes got to the Leinster final when they got past the Dublin group stage.

Obviously Na Fianna fell short last year against St Martins but won it the year before.

Indeed the Dublin SHC might just be the key accelerant that sets the Three Castles on fire.

I think the teams that are winning Dublin going forward are teams with the most consistent 15 players across the board but they mightnt have those standout players.

It feels as if Im kind of on the crest of a wave here.

I mean Im 28 now and there is an absolute conveyor belt of talented players who I think will do better in five or six years if we produce results now so they get used to winning.

We have Donal Burke, Sean Currie, Liam Rushe at Na Fianna, like thats an All Star team and theyre going to go well again this Championship.

Im here with you in Kilmacud Crokes and there are 10 lads on the Dublin scene here and were waiting for them to come through on the pipeline but it is representative of the state of Dublin hurling.

If theres more across other clubs, like we have lads on the panel from Thomas Davis and lads on the panel from Naomh Barrog out on the northside.

Like when I was starting playing out, I was 18/19, we got knocked out the first round Championship, the year after we didnt make it out of Leinster.

Now that plays into the psyche a small bit, so think about the Galway lads now who are their first year in the panel, theyve got a Leinster and theyre into an All-Ireland final straight away so they will want that every year.

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