Liam Rushe yet to make decision on Dublin future

Michael Bolton

After four years away from inter-county hurling, Liam Rushe made his return this season for Dublin.

A return which was in the making for some time, Rushe admitted to enjoying it more than he expected, as Dublin's season came to an end against Clare last weekend in the quarter-finals.

A season which showed a lot of promise, with wins over Kilkenny and Galway in the Leinster championship, it was another season, when two of the best teams in the country, Galway and Clare, inflicted heavy defeats.

Rushe was part of the last Dublin team to win a Leinster championship in 2013, and is confident this Dublin side is making progress.

“Absolutely, you've just got to keep coming back. You know, the progress is not going to be linear. It'll be in fits and starts.

“We had some huge wins last year, and I really felt like we’d tightened things up this year and were competitive in most games.

“Sadly, we saved our two worst performances for last, really.

“I just think if the team continues to progress, that there's definitely success in the near future.”

The quarter-final defeat against Clare showed how clinical the best teams are, with Dublin missing goal chances that eneded up costing them, as the Na Fianna man admitted that is the difference between Dublin and the best sides.

"I think there's just that clinical aspect to their play.

"Definitely, Galway in the Leinster final were a bit more clinical than we were, and the same again with Clare, they just took their chances. We made a hero of Eibhear Quilligan instead. That's it, really."

The game was remembered by a horrific injury to David Reidy, who was knocked out cold by a head-high challenge from Dublin's Brendan Kenny.

Kenny was sent off, with tensions boiling over following the tackle.

Rushe defended his Dublin teammate, as he called it an exceptional incident.

"He's definitely not [a man with malice in him], definitely not.

"From my read of it, I really didn't think he went in that recklessly or to do him at all. He was almost square to David Reidy. Reidy basically went to go for a sidestep while he was coming up, and just almost banged his head off his chest/front of shoulder.

"I didn't really think there was much in it. To be honest, people have been raising the prospect of, 'We need to take head contact out of hurling,' this, that and the other.

"This was, to my mind, a very exceptional incident. I can't recall seeing a player knocked unconscious in a hurling match previously from a head to the shoulder."

After years with injuries that put a stop to his Dublin career, the 35-year-old made his impact felt in the side, as he looked like he was never away.

"I enjoyed it, I probably enjoyed it more than I did my last few years previous.

"It has definitely has changed somewhat. It's definitely more tactical than it was.

“There's more analysis than ever, more information at your fingertips than ever before. But, yeah, enjoyed it. Thought the set-up was very good and glad I went back overall.

“I'd considered it the previous two years. Particularly when Nelly (Niall Ó Ceallacháin) took over in '25, we'd had the discussion, but I just had too many different niggly injuries to get over. I couldn't countenance going back in with Dublin for another six-month run, so I just let that opportunity go by.

“At the start of this year, I was finally in one piece, and I just got in touch and he said, come on board.”

When asked if he would return for 2027, he had yet to make a decision.

“That is definitely a wait-and-see. I wouldn't make any decision three days after being knocked out of a championship. It'd be a rash one.”