Paddy Smyth 'very confident' Eoghan O'Donnell will return to Dublin hurling panel in 2023

Dublin hurler Paddy Smyth says he is "very confident" that Eoghan O'Donnell will return to the panel for 2023.

Following the Dubs' exit from this year's championship, O'Donnell joined Dessie Farrell's football panel, leading to speculation that he could stick with the big ball going forward.

But Smyth is expecting his defensive colleague to link back up with the hurlers next season.

"Our season was finished, and he had an opportunity there," Smyth explained.

"I'd be friendly enough with Eoghan, I haven't chatted about that stuff yet. But just from listening to him, when he's talking to anyone in our group, he's a very ambitious guy for our group, and he definitely has a lot of belief in what our team can achieve. I don't want to speak for him, but I'd be very confident in seeing him [in the hurling panel] next year."

New man at the helm

There is a buzz around Dublin hurling at present, in the wake of Micheál Donoghue's appointment as manager of the county team.

Smyth is excited about working with the 2017 All-Ireland-winning boss.

"With Micheál coming in now, I'm sure he'll be bringing in some fresh faces and new ideas as well," he said.

"So looking forward to it anyway, whenever we get started. He has all the pedigree that you need, not many people can say they've won an All-Ireland. So I'm looking forward to working with him."

Donoghue's appointment came as a surprise, after weeks of several other big names being linked to the role.

"It was kept very quiet, I think that's the way the county board works," Smyth said.

"We heard the rumours, but we all know how the Dublin County Board works, it's very quiet until you hear an announcement. Which is probably the right way to be doing things. But you do see a lot of names flying about, you can't take too much heed of that. It's good to have someone in place now that can be at the club games, watching over lads and seeing who is putting their hand up to make the panel.

"It's an exciting appointment so I'm just looking forward to getting to work with him."

The Sky Blues will be hoping to bounce back after a tame exit from the 2022 championship, despite winning their first three games in the Leinster round robin.

"Disappointing end to our season with Dublin," Smyth said.

"It's hard to put your finger on it. We started three from three in the championship. And then we had a bad day against Kilkenny in Parnell which was disappointing. To go out on points difference, it's hard to take. But we didn't perform in those last two games. No excuses, we just didn't perform to be honest.

"In a packed-out Parnell against Kilkenny, it was just a very flat performance by us all. We didn't respond to some setbacks in the game, some of the goals we conceded.

"It was a very disappointing performance from us against Kilkenny, as was the one in the League. I think it's a mental thing, rather than physical or hurling-wise against them.

"It's all about performing on the day and we haven't achieved that. We've obviously spoken internally about what went wrong that day but it's more just a mental thing, I don't think a Dublin team has beaten Kilkenny in a long time so it's about trying to be the first team to do that. Hopefully next season we can have a good crack off them.

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"[The championship disappointment] is definitely still in the back of your mind, the whole time. Especially now, since we stopped at the end of May, you're not playing another championship game until April nearly. So it's a long time to be thinking about it, trying to get a chance to rectify it. In an intercounty set-up, you're still always trying to push on and improve when you're back with the club. So you'd be still contacting people, looking for the best advice on how to improve, just trying to get the maximum out of yourself."

And he says winning their first provincial crown since 2013 is a realistic target:

"Definitely. That would be an ambition of the group. Kilkenny are coming off an All-Ireland final - where they were just a few points off - so I can't imagine they'll be weakened too much. Galway were close as well. So it is competitive in Leinster. It's definitely an ambition of ours to be winning that so hopefully we can put in a performance to win that."