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Paul Mannion, Michael Fitzsimons, and Jack McCaffrey at Dublin's 2023 homecoming. Tom Maher/INPHO

With the departure of three icons, Dublin face change and challenges in new football era

Michael Fitzsimons, Paul Mannion, and Jack McCaffrey are all set to be inter-county absentees in 2025.

TWO SATURDAY NIGHT league games for Dublin, two post-match Dessie Farrell interviews, and three multi-All-Ireland winning stars moving away from the inter-county game.

Ten days ago Farrell delivered a player availability bulletin in Croke Park, and on Saturday night just gone, he had fresh news to share in MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey.

There was no definitive retirement news concerning Paul Mannion and Jack McCaffrey after the victory over Mayo, and about Michael Fitzsimons after the loss to Donegal.

But the tone and the wording was similar.

‘I’d say it’s unlikely that the two lads will be involved with us this year,’ was Farrell’s declaration on the future for Mannion and McCaffrey.

“It’s very unlikely that we’ll have Mick back,” was the summation regarding the playing intentions of Fitzsimons.

dessie-farrell Dublin boss Dessie Farrell. Andrew Paton / INPHO Andrew Paton / INPHO / INPHO

Workloads were mentioned for all three, linked to the difficulty in investing the necessary time to fulfil the requirements to be an elite Dublin footballer. Fitzsimons and McCaffrey are both doctors, with McCaffrey currently based in Portlaoise, while Mannion works in Enterprise Sales for Google.

Mannion and McCaffrey both turn 32 this year, while Fitzsimons is approaching his 36th birthday and has just parked a rewarding, yet long, club season with Cuala.

michael-fitzsimons-and-thomas-cananvan Michael Fitzsimons in action for Cuala in the All-Ireland club final against Errigal Ciarán. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

The rumour mill had whipped up doubts over the winter about whether the trio would commit another season to the Dublin cause. Farrell has refused to put a sense of finality to it, stressing the door remains open, but in all three cases, mounting a comeback at this stage will be difficult.

The departures come a few months after Dublin’s towering and formidable midfielders retired in the official and traditional manner. James McCarthy’s statement was released on 4 November, and the jaw-dropping news about Brian Fenton arrived over a fortnight later.

Those losses provided the backdrop as a new season was ushered into Dublin’s view. Throw in the exits of Mannion, McCaffrey, and Fitzsimons, and the Dublin squad has been removed of a considerable chunk of football experience, power, and class.

brian-fenton-and-james-mccarthy-celebrate-winning Brian Fenton and James McCarthy after the 2023 All-Ireland final. Evan Treacy / INPHO Evan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

The five of them have a staggering 38 All-Ireland senior medals between them, a combined 22 All-Star awards, a pile of Leinster and league medals, while Fenton and McCaffrey are both Footballer of the Year winners.

It’s true Dublin have coped without some of them previously. Mannion studied in China in 2015, and McCaffrey worked in Africa in 2016 as part of his medcial studies. In the summer of 2020, McCaffrey’s departure from the Dublin scene was announced, and Mannion joined him in that observer’s role in January 2021.

The pair returned together, the sensational news confirmed in a low-key fashion by Farrell in the autumn in 2022 as he gave an interview to DubsTV after a round of club championship action.

jack-mccaffrey-celebrates-after-scoring-a-goal-with-paul-mannion Jack McCaffrey celebrates his 2019 All-Ireland final goal with Paul Mannion. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

But they both started for Dublin’s last championship outing, when Galway toppled the titleholders in last June’s quarter-final, along with Fitzsimons, Fenton, and McCarthy.

That’s now a third of that starting fifteen removed as options for Farrell when he comes to writing out his teamsheet for Dublin’s Leinster opener on 13 April in Aughrim or Longford.

It’s hard to quantify that level of football aura exuded by such a group in a team that have enjoyed such spells of utter dominance.

The comparable tale is the scenario the Kilkenny hurlers faced in the winter of 2014 when Tommy Walsh, Brian Hogan, David Herity, and Aidan Fogarty had all slipped into retirement, with Henry Shefflin joining them the following spring. Kilkenny adjusted and by the following September, had retained the Liam MacCarthy Cup once again.

As Dublin embrace a new era, that’s the challenge they face.

The shift has already begun. Farrell has used 21 playes in their two league games to date. Gavin Sheridan, Greg McEnaney, Kevin Lahiff, Brian O’Leary, Luke Breathnach, Sean Lowry, and Conor Tyrell were all not part of the 26-man squad for that defeat to Galway last summer.

kevin-lahiff Dublin's Kevin Lahiff. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO

Dublin have freshened up elsewhere. They have welcomed David Byrne back into the fold after a year spent travelling, and Cian Murphy’s return from injury boosts their defensive resources further. James Madden is involved after six years with AFL side Brisbane Lions, and Eoghan O’Donnell has swapped his role as defensive hurling enforcer with Dublin for attacking football focal point.

Ciaran Kilkenny is still steering the attack, but he only has Stephen Cluxton for company in the squad from his first All-Ireland senior win back in 2013. From the historic five-in-a-row success of 2019, Eoin Murchan, Byrne, John Small, Niall Scully, Brian Howard, and Cormac Costello are the other survivors.

The sense is that they are the leadership group now, that this is the Dublin team that they can mould and shape in their image. The change is undeniable though, at a time when Gaelic football is getting to grips with a raft of new rules, and the pool of leading national contenders has deepened.

The sight of Byrne, Madden, and Basquel nursing hamstring injuries as they left Ballybofey on Saturday night creates another unwelcome headache for Farrell.

Dublin press pause this weekend but then the Division 1 league challenges come hurtling towards them.

A trip to Tralee to face Kerry on Saturday week, before a repeat of last year’s league decider with Derry in late February in Croke Park.

March brings away days to the All-Ireland champions Armagh, and to Tyrone, along with hosting their conquerors from last summer, Galway.

That’s plenty for Farrell to contend with.

The rate of player turnover feels seismic but there’s no time for Dublin to dwell on the memories of former stars lighting up the inter-county landscape.

Everything is moving on.

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