DARRAGH O SÉ once stated there are two key factors to retaining an All-Ireland title.
The first was self-explanatory – you must have the right players in the 25-32 age bracket. The second, he said, is you need a jolt somewhere along the way to keep things fresh and get the hunger flowing again.
O Sé used the example of Kerry’s double a decade ago when Jack O’Connor departed after leading them to the 2006 All-Ireland. Pat O’Shea arrived the following year, and it inspired them to reach new heights and retain their crown.
If the departures of All-Stars Rory O’Carroll and Jack McCaffrey provided Dublin with a big enough point to prove in 2016, then you wonder if Diarmuid Connolly’s 12-week ban will apply the jump-lead on their title challenge in 2017.
In the short-term, Connolly’s absence opens up a slot in Jim Gavin’s attack. Conor McHugh, Paul Flynn, Michael Darragh Macauley, Mark Schutte, Paddy Andrews, Eoghan O’Gara, Cormac Costello and Bernard Brogan are all jostling for position to benefit, this weekend at least, from Connolly’s absence.
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James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
It’s well known that Gavin doesn’t like to chop and change his deck too much in the championship. Play well in the early rounds and you’ll keep your place. The key thing for those outside the starting 15 is making enough of an impression in their second-half cameos to force Gavin’s hand for the next day out.
Generally the game opens up in the latter stages as Dublin’s fitness and dominance begins to tell all over the field. The 33-year-old Brogan caught the eye off the bench in the quarter-final win over Carlow, where he bagged two points after his 46th minute introduction for Kevin McManamon.
Alan Brogan believes his younger brother possesses the right mindset to have the required impact off the bench and eventually regain his place on the team.
“I think when you get to that stage of your career you’re experienced enough to know that you have to put the team before yourself,” the elder Brogan said.
“If that’s the job the manager wants you to do then you have to do it for the team. Of course you’d be annoyed when the team is named and you’re not in it, but you’ve got to put that setback behind you quickly and get yourself in the right frame of mind to make an impact off the bench.
“He’s definitely leaner than he was four or five years ago. He’s training very hard. He knows he’s coming towards the end as well over the course of the next year or two.
“He’s trying to get everything he can out of himself. In fairness I’ve been really impressed with him, really impressed with the shape he’s in. Even with the club this year he was in really good nick.
“Probably as good nick as I’ve ever seen him. He was decent when he came in against Carlow so that’s all you can do. It might end up being the same as my own situation where in my last year I came off the bench in every game.
Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
“Of course, I wanted to be playing from the start, but it’s just the way it worked out. If that’s what happens to him, I think he’d be strong enough to make an impact off the bench. Hopefully we’ll see him back in the starting team at some stage over the course of the summer.”
Dublin operated with a full-forward line of Paul Mannion, Dean Rock and McManamon against Carlow, with a half-forward axis of Niall Scully-Con O’Callaghan-Connolly and Ciaran Kilkenny at midfield.
Either Mannion or McManamon could move to the half-forward line to accommodate Brogan, although Gavin is more likely to road-test O’Callaghan at corner-forward against Westmeath for his senior debut at Croke Park.
Does Bernard Brogan stand to benefit most from Diarmuid Connolly's suspension?
DARRAGH O SÉ once stated there are two key factors to retaining an All-Ireland title.
The first was self-explanatory – you must have the right players in the 25-32 age bracket. The second, he said, is you need a jolt somewhere along the way to keep things fresh and get the hunger flowing again.
O Sé used the example of Kerry’s double a decade ago when Jack O’Connor departed after leading them to the 2006 All-Ireland. Pat O’Shea arrived the following year, and it inspired them to reach new heights and retain their crown.
If the departures of All-Stars Rory O’Carroll and Jack McCaffrey provided Dublin with a big enough point to prove in 2016, then you wonder if Diarmuid Connolly’s 12-week ban will apply the jump-lead on their title challenge in 2017.
In the short-term, Connolly’s absence opens up a slot in Jim Gavin’s attack. Conor McHugh, Paul Flynn, Michael Darragh Macauley, Mark Schutte, Paddy Andrews, Eoghan O’Gara, Cormac Costello and Bernard Brogan are all jostling for position to benefit, this weekend at least, from Connolly’s absence.
It’s well known that Gavin doesn’t like to chop and change his deck too much in the championship. Play well in the early rounds and you’ll keep your place. The key thing for those outside the starting 15 is making enough of an impression in their second-half cameos to force Gavin’s hand for the next day out.
Generally the game opens up in the latter stages as Dublin’s fitness and dominance begins to tell all over the field. The 33-year-old Brogan caught the eye off the bench in the quarter-final win over Carlow, where he bagged two points after his 46th minute introduction for Kevin McManamon.
Alan Brogan believes his younger brother possesses the right mindset to have the required impact off the bench and eventually regain his place on the team.
“I think when you get to that stage of your career you’re experienced enough to know that you have to put the team before yourself,” the elder Brogan said.
“If that’s the job the manager wants you to do then you have to do it for the team. Of course you’d be annoyed when the team is named and you’re not in it, but you’ve got to put that setback behind you quickly and get yourself in the right frame of mind to make an impact off the bench.
“He’s definitely leaner than he was four or five years ago. He’s training very hard. He knows he’s coming towards the end as well over the course of the next year or two.
“He’s trying to get everything he can out of himself. In fairness I’ve been really impressed with him, really impressed with the shape he’s in. Even with the club this year he was in really good nick.
“Probably as good nick as I’ve ever seen him. He was decent when he came in against Carlow so that’s all you can do. It might end up being the same as my own situation where in my last year I came off the bench in every game.
“Of course, I wanted to be playing from the start, but it’s just the way it worked out. If that’s what happens to him, I think he’d be strong enough to make an impact off the bench. Hopefully we’ll see him back in the starting team at some stage over the course of the summer.”
Dublin operated with a full-forward line of Paul Mannion, Dean Rock and McManamon against Carlow, with a half-forward axis of Niall Scully-Con O’Callaghan-Connolly and Ciaran Kilkenny at midfield.
Either Mannion or McManamon could move to the half-forward line to accommodate Brogan, although Gavin is more likely to road-test O’Callaghan at corner-forward against Westmeath for his senior debut at Croke Park.
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