DUBLIN MANAGER DESSIE Farrell has confirmed that Seán Bugler stands no more than a ‘touch and go’ chance of playing a role in the All-Ireland football final against Kerry.

The St Oliver Plunkett’s/Eoghan Ruadh man had been named to start last Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Monaghan but was replaced by Paddy Small, owing to a calf injury.

“It’ll be touch and go, being honest. We’re throwing everything at it and we’re hoping he’ll be alright,” Farrell explained.

“As I said we’re hoping we’re going to have him right. I honestly don’t know whether he will be or not. So it’ll be, I’d imagine, a late fitness test and all of that. Everyone else is in good shape.”

The potential loss of Bugler robs Dublin of a forceful presence who has come to nail down his place in a tough forward division, Farrell acknowledges.

“Yeah, he’d been going well, for sure. Maturing and developing nicely this season. But, look it, that’s the nature of it. We’ve got out of it relatively okay in terms of when you look at it in its entirety. But player availability is important the next day. If you can have everyone available to you it helps, doesn’t it?”

While Jack McCaffrey came on against Monaghan to great effect, with Dublin pushing Lee Gannon into a more advanced position, he hasn’t been as prominent as many expected from the 2015 Footballer of the Year.  

Farrell explained this is also tied to injury.

“He’s had a couple of bouts of injury as well so we probably had to reappraise how we could manage Jack throughout the season. Definitely managing his load and volume was important,” said Farrell, who admitted that handling these situations can be troublesome.

“They’re always challenging conversations because the nature of the beast is very competitive and everyone feels they can make a contribution. It’s not just with senior players, it’s some of the younger players, which is to be encouraged as well and we like to see that. 

“Those conversations at any stage in the season, and it doesn’t really matter who the player is, they’re always difficult. But ultimately everyone knows the decisions are being made for the betterment of the group and thankfully everybody buys into that.” 

With McCaffrey, Stephen Cluxton and Paul Mannion returning to the sky blue jersey this year, getting them to the physical peaks required has been an ongoing process, Farrell explained.

“It’s trying to manage that throughout the season and particularly later on because there’s volume load, mileage, years, there were all sorts of dimensions to it. Bryan Cullen and the lads have been a huge help,” he said.

“It’s not just that you’re trying to make it an exact science, it’s not. You’re dependent on players’ honesty and their engagement and communicating with them regularly to see how they’re feeling and what’s going on for them and that type of thing and you make some calls then around the bigger training sessions or games or whatever it might be then as a result.”