THE DUBLIN SENIOR football team has brought strength in depth and squad rotation to a whole new level in the GAA.
While Jim Gavin blooded 25 players in last year’s championship, we picked five key men who started in every one of those games.
In six championship matches last year Jim Gavin used 11 different substitutes who between them amassed 31 appearances off the bench. From the opening round victory over Westmeath to the All-Ireland final, 19 different players started games for Dublin.
In 2011, Dublin’s other All-Ireland success this decade, Pat Gilroy also used 25 players and with the exception of one game these five played in every single one of the six championship matches.
Gilroy used 13 different substitutes that year, also giving starts to 19 different players. After winning the county’s first All-Ireland in 16 years his team earned six All-Star awards between them (plus six more last season).
So of the 35 players who played championship games for Dublin in 2011 and 2013, and the 36 players used in this year’s nine league games – these are the five players we think Jim Gavin’s Dublin can’t do without.
Stephen Cluxton
Cluxton is the first name on every list these days, whether it be an All-Star selection or an International rules team, not to mention Jim Gavin’s Dublin team. He has reinvented the role of the goal keeper; acting as a sweeper in general play, as well as being Dublin’s key set piece specialist.
The county have produced a number of talented keepers in recent years such as Shane Supple and Michael Savage, but would MD MacAuley and co be as effective without Cluxton’s kickouts? He didn’t miss a SFC game in 2011 or 2013.
AGE: 32
ALL-STARS: 5
SFC APPS IN 2011: 6/6
SFC APPS IN 2013: 6/6
LEAGUE APPS 2013/14: 8/9
Rory O’Carroll
Since Paddy Christie’s retirement in 2007 full back was Dublin’s bogey position. As Kieran Donaghy re-introduced the direct ball tactic, Dublin’s full back-line struggled to cope.
Ross McConnell, Dennis Bastick and several others were tried out but once a young full back called Rory O’Carroll led the Dublin U21 team to All-Ireland glory in 2010 (winning the Cadbury’s Hero of the Future award) he was earmarked for the position for years to come. Dublin could well be back to square one though in the coming years as O’Carroll is said to be on Anthony Daly’s radar.
AGE: 25
ALL-STARS: 1
SFC APPS IN 2011: 6/6
SFC APPS IN 2013: 6/6
LEAGUE APPS 2013/14: 4/9
Michael Darragh MacAuley
Last year’s footballer of the year, MD MacAuley like Rory O’Carroll, filled a vital gap for Dublin when he came in to the panel in 2010.
Despite their dominance of Leinster, Dublin had struggled to compete in the middle of the field with the stronger counties. Even when Ciaran Whelan was at the Dub’s disposal then-manager Paul Caffrey was forced to convert Shane Ryan in to an orthodox midfielder.
MacAuley’s direct running and physicality is central to this Dublin team, and of these five players he is the only to have missed a SFC game in 2011 or 2013 when a hand injury ruled him out of the Leinster final three years ago.
AGE: 28
ALL-STARS: 2
SFC APPS IN 2011: 5/6
SFC APPS IN 2013: 6/6
LEAGUE APPS 2013/14: 4/9
Paul Flynn
Unsurprisingly Dublin went in to their two league losses this year without both Paul Flynn and Rory O’Carroll. The converted wing forward has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and unlike many players on the current panel he’s irreplaceable.
This was never more evident than in the 2011 All-Ireland final when Pat Gilroy chose to start Flynn, who had been carrying a serious hamstring injury which would leave him sidelined long after the game, valuing his worth to the team as such.
Flynn is the only Dublin player to have won three consecutive All-Star awards, in fact he is the only player in the country to have won successive All-Stars in the last three years.
AGE: 27
ALL-STARS: 3
SFC APPS IN 2011: 6/6
SFC APPS IN 2013: 6/6
LEAGUE APPS 2013/14: 4/9
Bernard Brogan
Although Brogan is playing in a position for Dublin where despite his obvious quality, he is often deemed as replaceable – he’s not.
The likes of Cormac Costello and Paul Mannion seem to of inherited Brogan lightning turn of pace, awareness and direct running, but surely Jim Gavin wouldn’t yet trade on Brogan come September in Croke Park. Not yet anyway.
Last year he managed 0-4 and 2-2 in the All-Ireland semi final and final respectively, winning the man of the match award after his performance in the final against Mayo.
Despite missing much of this year’s league campaign he signaled his return with 1-6 against Derry in the league final, 1-3 of which from play.
AGE: 30
ALL-STARS: 3
SFC APPS IN 2011: 6/6
SFC APPS IN 2013: 6/6
LEAGUE APPS 2013/14: 2/9
Given Diarmuid Connolly’s form over the past 12 months he’s not far off this list, James McCarthy and Ger Brennan also started every game in 2011 and 2013 – but who would you pick as the men Dublin really couldn’t replace?
