With little or no hurling experience to call upon, Pat Gilroy's remit when taking charge of the Dublin hurlers hung on his ability to unify the county's many loose hurling threads.
What Anthony Daly had built in the capital over a six-year period, Ger Cunningham had quickly seen unravel.
Operating nowhere near its fullest potential, Gilroy, the man who led Dublin's footballers to All-Ireland victory in 2011, could signify a draw for those growing increasingly weary of the whole endeavour.
Danny Sutcliffe was one player who would have been very near the top of Gilroy's 'must call' list. An All-Star and Leinster Championship winner in 2013, the 25-year-old St. Jude's man announced his return to the panel late last month.
Speaking to the Independent, Sutcliffe highlighted Gilroy's approach and why it struck him as the right time to return to Dublin hurling:
I wasn't thinking about coming back hurling at all. It wasn't top of my list. I was only thinking work-wise.
[Then Gilroy called, and] it was one or two calls. And he just offered me a place on a training panel - and that's all it is at the moment - and I accepted.
What persuaded the man who was hitherto undecided whether to live in London or Dublin to return to hurling with so few assurances?
We watched from the trenches what [Gilroy] did with the footballers. [I rang Kevin McManamon, St. Jude's club-mate and] he said it was brilliant. He enjoyed it.
There was a great team ethos and a great atmosphere around the squad. So that was it.
Representing Dublin in this weekend's 'Fenway Classic' in Boston, Sutcliffe's reintroduction to the Dublin panel demonstrates Gilroy's efficiency in dealing with the task he has been set.
