DUBLIN great Diarmuid Connolly reckons All-Ireland winning captain James McCarthy is going to have ‘a massive influence’ on their bid for back-to-back titles.
Injuries have affected veteran McCarthy so far this year with just two starts all season, against Offaly and Louth in the Leinster championship.
He didn’t feature in the subsequent wins over Roscommon and Cavan but made a timely return to action as a substitute last time out in the draw with Mayo.
Now with the Dubs at the business end of their campaign, and set to face Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-finals on Saturday, Connolly is confident McCarthy will kick into overdrive again.
Connolly reckons that, when fit, McCarthy is the natural partner to Brian Fenton at midfield and believes the pair will reestablish this relationship following a period of ‘horses for courses for Dublin in the middle of the field’
“I think James is going to have a massive influence in the next three games for this Dublin side,” said BoyleSports ambassador Connolly, a six-time All-Ireland winner. “He came on against Mayo. I actually thought he might have started because it was a small bit of a dead rubber where there was no real jeopardy.
“So I thought they might have given him 60 or 70 minutes, just to see where he’s at. For me, James McCarthy is the option beside Brian Fenton at midfield, closely followed by Tom Lahiff.
“I think Lahiff plays a certain role for Dublin, he’s not going to get up and kick you four or five points, or even two or three scores, in a big game, but he has a role to nullify an opposition player and I think that’s how Dessie Farrell sees him.
“I really like Killian McGinnis at midfield, I think he’s a real football playing midfielder whereas Tom Lahiff gives you something completely different.
“But I think James and Brian complement each other a little better in that scenario, where James is more of a sitting midfielder and Brian then has a licence to go forward and get beyond the play a little more.”
What’s more certain is that Dublin will look to Cormac Costello in attack again on Saturday. So often an impact sub for Dublin since making his debut in 2013, the Whitehall Colmcille man has started their last five games and returned 2-24 in that time, including the crucial equaliser against Mayo.
“Cormac Costello has been at his peak for the last six or seven years but what’s happened him a lot is that he gets to peak performance and then he breaks down with an injury,” said Connolly.
“We saw it way back in 2013 when Cormac was playing the best football I’ve seen him playing, at that stage under Jim Gavin, and he was so close to getting into that starting forward line and then had a bad injury.
“That took him out for nearly a season and a half. People don’t realise that, that injury was an absolute nightmare for him because it kept recurring and recurring. What I’m seeing with Cormac now is that he’s just getting more minutes. He’s getting consistency of play.”
Connolly’s main concern for Dublin is what happens if the goals dry up.
“To really compete at the top level and to blow teams out of the water, Dublin need to get goals,” he said. “But teams aren’t setting themselves up against Dublin like that and I don’t think this weekend will be any different. I think Galway will set up with a defensive mindset. I think Dublin will get over the line by a short margin but I don’t think it’ll be a landslide by any means.”
* Diarmuid Connolly teamed up with BoyleSports to preview this weekend’s action. Get paid out early with BoyleSports if your team goes 7 points ahead, even if they draw or lose.
