So many Dublin players will be itching to get back on the training pitch to shake off the nagging sense they did not do enough in the biggest game of the season.
As luck would have it, the next biggest game of the season is 11 days away.
Jim Gavin has some big decisions to make ahead of the All-Ireland Football Final replay on October 1st.
A mere handful of Dublin players turned in decent performances on Sunday. Only five players scored from play, possession was flung away, discipline was lax and Dublin looked well and truly rattled.
A selection debate will ensue all the way up until the replay team is named. Team changes came up for discussion on the latest GAA Hour podcast, as Colm Parkinson, Conan Doherty and former Dublin star Barry Cahill looked ahead to another huge encounter. Parkinson said:
“I do feel Jim Gavin is going to make two changes to that forward line because I think that forward line maybe needs two changes.”
Cahill feels Steven Rochford knew well in advance how Dublin’s six forwards would set up and planned accordingly, disrupting each of their games.
Bernard Brogan and Paul Flynn are two forwards coming off less than stellar performances, against Kerry and Mayo. Cahill commented:
“Flynn has had groin injuries for the past two or three years but he looks like a fella that just needs a score. Going into last year’s final he wasn’t operating brilliantly but he kicked two points and had his best game of the year.
“From a Dublin perspective, you were probably hoping that it happened again. He is just not getting on enough ball in the right areas.”
No changes are expected in the Dublin backline but Michael Darragh MacAuley may find himself pressed hard by fellow midfielder Denis Bastick for a starting role.
Kevin McManamon is another with his place under threat having failed to score before being replaced in the second half.
“It’s between Paul and Bernard [to get dropped],” Parkinson said. “McManamon could be unlucky and go back into that super-sub role.”
Brogan and Flynn have received backing from an old foe, however. Former Kerry forward Paul Galvin believes Dublin’s laboured build-up and hunger to dominate possession is not helping the two men, who have eight All Stars between them.
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The nation can argue the selection merits until it is sky blue in the face. Gavin is the man that will make the final call.
Parkinson suspects there will be changes made.
He said, “I think Jim Gavin is going to be inspired by [Kilkenny hurling boss] Brian Cody and he is going to go ‘Look, that did not work. You only get one chance in my team’.”
We review a crazy All-Ireland final and chat to Lee Keegan about his special relationship with Diarmuid Connolly. Listen below or subscribe here on iTunes.
