There was plenty of anticipation when Mattie Kenny became Dublin hurling manager.

The Galway native had enjoyed stellar success at club level with Cuala, so many were intrigued if he could carry that into inter-county management.

The results so far have been encouraging and culminated in Dublin knocking Galway out of the Championship at the weekend.

Kenny joined us on Off The Ball to discuss those early months in charge. He targeted immediate success rather than just building for the future.

"Everything we do, we take one game at a time and one season at a time," he said.

"Earlier in the year we set targets for ourselves in the league, which we didn't achieve. We set targets for ourselves in the Leinster Championship which we didn't achieve.

"So we've now got to set targets for the All-Ireland and if we're making progress and the team are performing well, the whole dynamic of the group is good.

"That's our focus at the moment. We're not looking to next year or the year after. When we got the job we said, 'Lookit, we're going to try and achieve as much as we can this year'.

"As I said, the targets are set for the league and the Leinster Championship. Unfortunately, we didn't achieve them. But thankfully we've qualified for the knockout stages of the All-Ireland series."

Stalwart

Kenny also reserved praise for one of the veterans in his panel Conal Keaney.

"Conal Keaney has been a stalwart and a servant for a good many years with Dublin," he said.

"When I was appointed last year, Conal was at Boden and I knew from the Boden guys that he was carrying a serious shoulder injury.

"He didn't get it operated until his commitment with Boden finished on Leinster final day in early December.

"So he had to get that shoulder sorted out, operated on, and that was going to keep him out for the guts of four or five months.

"It's a testament to Conal, the way he came through that operation and got himself back into shape. It's also a testament to all the medical team that worked with him and all the physios.

"No doubt he put in a huge performance on Saturday night."

He also added that Keaney "is a good leader in the dressing room and on the pitch".

You can watch the full chat with Mattie Kenny above via our YouTube channel.