FITTING that Dublin's competitive seasonal opener should be staged in Naomh Mearnóg given that their most famous recent exponent will be the prime focus of interest for much of the Blues' early season campaign.

In fairness to Shane Ryan, it won't be for lack of effort that he fails to bridge the 10-year gap in intercounty hurling action and his manager, Anthony Daly, is set to give the 2008 football All-Star all the time in the world to hone his hurling touch over the coming weeks.

As yet, Ryan is still very much a work in progress but one which the small ball fraternity will keep close tabs on during the Walsh Cup and Dublin's first forays in NHL Division 1 action in February.

Daly has given Ryan a run in a variety of central positions, and though by general consensus full-forward looked the spot most suited to Ryan's physical attributes, it seems that for the time being at least, the Clareman is toying with the prospect of a half-forward ball-winning role for the player. And tomorrow could, in theory anyway, represent a stiff opener for the Dubs. NUIG may be playing Fitzgibbon on Wednesday against DIT, but they have a deep reservoir of talent from which to draw for both upcoming matches.

Eleven of the players used against Carlow in the previous round were Claremen themselves so at least Daly will be familiar with their talents, with Diarmuid Nash, Noel Casey and the free-scoring John Conlon all making big impressions.

There could also be a run-out for Galway centre-back John Lee ahead of Wednesday as he returns from injury.

As for Dublin, they will have to make do without their own third level brigade for the time being, with David Treacy, Tomás Brady, Paul Ryan, Peter Kelly, David O'Callaghan, Liam Rushe and Joey Boland all unavailable. Still, given the appetite for games shown by the likes of Kevin Flynn and David Curtin at the Evening Herald Dubs Stars match back on January 3, Dublin should hit the ground running tomorrow and earn the right to meet UCD or Wexford in next Sunday's semi-final.

VERDICT: Dublin

WALSH CUP (SH) QUARTER-FINAL

Dublin v NUIG

(Naomh Mearnóg, Tomorrow, 2.0)

- Conor McKeon