Paddy Smyth: Dublin may have mental problem against Cats

The Dublin hurlers, with a high-profile new manager on board, continue to eye up a Leinster title as a primary target, according to defender Paddy Smyth.

Morale appeared to be at a low ebb in the Dublin hurling set-up following the grimly disappointing end to their 2022 campaign, star defender Eoghan O'Donnell subsequently announcing his intention to throw his lot in with the footballers.

However, the capital's hurling scene has been swiftly re-energised by the appointment of Galway's 2017 All-Ireland winning manager Micheál Donoghue as the county's new senior manager, replacing his county man Mattie Kenny who departed after four years in charge.

Smyth said he was confident O'Donnell would be back with the hurlers next year and that the news about the new man was kept largely under wraps.

The Clontarf hurler said he has heard nothing but positive reports about Donoghue's management style.

""We heard the rumours, but we all know how the Dublin County Board works, it's very quiet until you hear an announcement," Smyth told RTÉ Sport.

"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 exciting news. You just hear snippets from people that worked with him, it's nothing but positivity about him. It's an exciting appointment so I'm just looking forward to getting to work with him.

"I don't know exactly the style he'll be implementing with us but [his teams] are very direct, very strong and you just have to win your own ball."

Donoghue's predecessor Kenny - who previously guided Cuala to successive All-Ireland titles in 2017 and 2018 - resigned in June after four largely frustrating years in charge, where the capital's hurlers landed a few landmark