AS BARRY CAHILL says himself, it’s highly unlikely James McCarthy will return from a knee injury in time for Dublin’s All-Ireland quarter-final clash with Donegal on Saturday evening.
The heart of Dubin’s formidable All-Ireland winning defence has been ripped apart, with Rory O’Carroll and Jack McCaffrey making themselves unavailable for selection in 2016.
Cahill, who won an All-Ireland alongside McCarthy in 2011, believes the absence of the Ballymun wing-back will serve as a leveler as Donegal attempt to repeat their shock semi-final win of 2014.
“James McCarthy, earlier in the year, was one of the front-runners for Footballer of the Year,” Cahill says.
“He has turned into such a key player for them. Going forward, the fitness and the stride on him to get past players in the middle third is phenomenal. There are very few players who have that ability. Also, he’s so composed when he gets into the opposition half.
“He know when to go for the score himself. Or when to lay it off to Bernard [Brogan] or Ciarán [Kilkenny] or Dean [Rock] to kick a score. So he’s very intelligent to get into that space. But yeah, the fact that Jack McCaffrey isn’t there. John Small obviously isn’t the same as Jack going forward.
“So James will be a big loss. Even a couple of times in the League, they might have thrown him back full-back to mark a big full-forward player for five or 10 minutes to try and get him used to that.”
It begs the question of who should replace McCarthy. In the Leinster final against Westmeath, Jim Gavin switched Ciaran Kilkenny to the half-back line to act as the primary ball carrier out of defence.
Cahill doesn’t feel Gavin should repeat the trick against Rory Gallagher’s side.
“I would personally bring in Mick Fitzsimons to the defence. He’s the next best defender going in. In the full-back line and maybe push Philly McMahon or even Jonny Cooper forward.
“I wouldn’t bring Ciarán Kilkenny back. Although I’d love to see Paddy Andrews back in the team. I think Dublin are a better team with him in it and I believe he’s pushing very hard for a starting place.
“So they have options there. But I can’t see them putting a half forward into the half back line.”
Cahill has a good insight into the mind of Rory Gallagher too. He played club football with Gallagher at Dublin side St. Brigid’s. Gallagher was corner forward and Cahill played in midfield when they lost the 2007 county final to St. Vincent’s.
He can see the Donegal boss springing a surprise or two on Saturday.
“I know Rory quite well and just thinking about it when he sat down to plan for the year I’m sure he felt they would have to play Dublin at some point to get to an All-Ireland final or win an All-Ireland. So I think he will try something unusual.
“He could potentially [go with] Michael Murphy and Neil Gallagher as a two man full forward line from the first minute if Gallagher is fit. You just don’t know.
“If they do go with that then Cian O’Sullivan will drop that bit deeper which will give them the chance to have a runner or an overlap in the middle third which Donegal are brilliant at. They do have a few possibilities there.”
“The big thing at the weekend was that their subs came on and did well, Leo McLoone, Christy Toye. If you’re trying to beat Dublin you probably have to keep a couple of your best players in reserve until the 45th, 50th minute, and then spring them from the bench.
“Because you need to be in the game in that period and then need the players then to match Dublin. You need someone to get a few scores to get you over the line because Dublin are capable of doing some damage from the 60th minute.”
Barry Cahill was speaking at the launch of the 21st Annual Asian Gaelic Games sponsored by FEXCO, Ireland’s largest, privately owned financial technology company.
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