IF NIALL Ó Ceallacháin had his way, two thirds of the Na Fianna team that won the All-Ireland club title for him last year would have played for Dublin by now.
As it stands, nine of the team that lined out in the Croke Park final win over Sarsfields have been retained/called up/plucked from retirement for use by Dublin.
Former Limerick senior and All-Ireland medallist Brian Ryan would have been the 10th but, according to his father, Brian Senior, who guided UL to another Fitzgibbon Cup title last spring, “I don’t think he’s interested”.
Still, Dublin manager Ó Ceallacháin can’t be blamed for not wringing every drop of inter-county potential out of that Na Fianna team which he managed to county, Leinster and All-Ireland titles across the autumn and winter months of 2024/2025.
Liam Rushe with Niall Ó Ceallachain in wexford Park this month. James Lawlor / INPHO
James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
The Burke brothers, Dónal and Kevin, along with the Currie brothers, Colin and Seán, have all played competitively for Dublin under Ó Ceallachain since then, along with Paul O’Dea, Tom Brennan and Andrew Jamieson-Murphy.
Pulling Conor McHugh back into an inter-county squad last year ahead of his 31st birthday, having previously won four All-Ireland senior football medals in seven seasons and having finished up in 2021, was a leftfield move. Particularly as McHugh was a football forward and a full-back in hurling.
But the latest Na Fianna man to be called in, Liam Rushe, will shortly turn 36 and appeared to be even more comfortable with his decision to focus on club matters at the Mobhi Road club.
Rushe, the 44th player to be used competitively by Dublin this year, when he came on as a sub against Kildare in the Leinster SHC last month, hadn’t played for the Dubs since a brief appearance from the bench against Westmeath in the 2022 Championship. That was the two-time All-Star’s only appearance that season as he struggled with a series of injuries and ultimately decided to pull the plug on the county game.
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So when he lined out against Wexford last weekend, wearing the 26 jersey, we were informed by the Dublin GAA X account that it was 1,743 days since he’d previously started for his county, against Cork in the 2021 All-Ireland quarter-final.
Dublin lost that one to Cork and, fittingly, the squad that Rushe has returned to five years later is desperately trying to find the marginal gains, missing pieces and improvements required to close the gap at the top level after last July’s 7-26 shellacking from the same county.
Chris Crummey, Dublin’s totem at No 6, was suspended for that 2025 All-Ireland semi-final but the manner of their filleting that afternoon, when the heart of Dublin’s defence was ripped open time and again, suggested that even the experienced Lucan man couldn’t have prevented the torture.
And so even with a healthy 2-21 registered, Dublin still lost by 20 points.
Ó Ceallacháin is the chief operations officer at Clúid Housing but it didn’t take a high functioning executive to realise that the Dublin defence had been left badly exposed. A game later, Tipperary deployed Bryan O’Mara as an auxiliary defender against Cork, to stop the same thing happening to them, and walked away with the MacCarthy Cup.
The counterpoint is that Dublin had beaten Limerick in the quarter-final without using a sweeper, so they’d have been altering a winning system if they’d changed things up against Cork.
“I could probably easily say that alright, around we’d have been moving away from our system, but then so did Liam Cahill,” said Ó Ceallacháin, when discussing the issue in February. “He did it, and it worked out for him. I don’t know, and that’s the honest answer, if you had it all over again, I don’t know.
“It’s obvious in hindsight based on the outcome of the semi-final and the final, so the easy thing is to say we would do something different and change it up, if we had our time again.
“But it’s never as black and white. It wasn’t the only driver (in losing to Cork) either. I could spend a lot longer with you on it but the short answer to your question is, if we could have it all over again and do things differently? I don’t know.”
At some point, Ó Ceallacháin clearly came to the conclusion that Rushe was the answer, or part of it at least. He’d tried to entice the versatile defender into the panel even before that Cork game, but wasn’t taking no for an answer this year.
And, from Rushe’s perspective, it helped that this was the first spring in three years that he was fully fit. Achilles tendonitis and a trapped nerve in his neck were ongoing concerns.
“I’m healthy now and hopefully I can stay that way,” said Rushe after completing the entire game against Wexford last weekend.
He played at centre-back at Chadwicks Wexford Park and ended up tracking Lee Chin, one helluva welcome back. That match-up came as a surprise as Chin spent more time closer to goal against Kilkenny, and Dublin had been preparing Eoghan O’Donnell to track the Wexford talisman. “That was a bit unexpected,” said Rushe.
But he dealt with it well and gave the sort of commanding performance which suggested he is ready to lock down the centre of Dublin’s defence for the rest of the summer.
Over on the sideline, Ó Ceallacháin must have been satisfied with how he has moved things on defensively. The half-back line that started against Cork last summer was Paddy Doyle-McHugh-Conor Donohoe. Against Wexford last weekend, it was Crummey-Rushe-Conor Burke. Doyle and Donohoe are still starters, but in the full-back line and at midfield respectively. McHugh remains a dogged corner-back but started at six last summer against Cork to mark Shane Barrett.
A Crummey-Rushe-Burke combination, with Rushe in the centre, looks entirely more commanding. Chances are Rushe will swap Chin for Cathal Mannion this weekend which will amount to another huge test of his credentials.
If the Rushe project ultimately doesn’t work out, Ó Ceallacháin can’t be blamed for not trying absolutely everything to push Dublin on since taking over ahead of the 2025 season. Between McHugh’s recall, the second coming afforded to thirty-something John Hetherton or the more recent recall of Eddie Gibbons in goals, Rushe’s comeback is the latest example of an open-minded manager not being afraid to think well outside the box.
“We need everybody who has the interest, the application and the commitment mindset to bring this thing on,” said Ó Ceallacháin back in his first media engagement as Dublin manager. “The door is always very much open for people.”
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Rushe hour: Dublin moving their pieces into place in time for summer charge
IF NIALL Ó Ceallacháin had his way, two thirds of the Na Fianna team that won the All-Ireland club title for him last year would have played for Dublin by now.
As it stands, nine of the team that lined out in the Croke Park final win over Sarsfields have been retained/called up/plucked from retirement for use by Dublin.
Former Limerick senior and All-Ireland medallist Brian Ryan would have been the 10th but, according to his father, Brian Senior, who guided UL to another Fitzgibbon Cup title last spring, “I don’t think he’s interested”.
Still, Dublin manager Ó Ceallacháin can’t be blamed for not wringing every drop of inter-county potential out of that Na Fianna team which he managed to county, Leinster and All-Ireland titles across the autumn and winter months of 2024/2025.
The Burke brothers, Dónal and Kevin, along with the Currie brothers, Colin and Seán, have all played competitively for Dublin under Ó Ceallachain since then, along with Paul O’Dea, Tom Brennan and Andrew Jamieson-Murphy.
Pulling Conor McHugh back into an inter-county squad last year ahead of his 31st birthday, having previously won four All-Ireland senior football medals in seven seasons and having finished up in 2021, was a leftfield move. Particularly as McHugh was a football forward and a full-back in hurling.
But the latest Na Fianna man to be called in, Liam Rushe, will shortly turn 36 and appeared to be even more comfortable with his decision to focus on club matters at the Mobhi Road club.
Rushe, the 44th player to be used competitively by Dublin this year, when he came on as a sub against Kildare in the Leinster SHC last month, hadn’t played for the Dubs since a brief appearance from the bench against Westmeath in the 2022 Championship. That was the two-time All-Star’s only appearance that season as he struggled with a series of injuries and ultimately decided to pull the plug on the county game.
So when he lined out against Wexford last weekend, wearing the 26 jersey, we were informed by the Dublin GAA X account that it was 1,743 days since he’d previously started for his county, against Cork in the 2021 All-Ireland quarter-final.
Dublin lost that one to Cork and, fittingly, the squad that Rushe has returned to five years later is desperately trying to find the marginal gains, missing pieces and improvements required to close the gap at the top level after last July’s 7-26 shellacking from the same county.
Chris Crummey, Dublin’s totem at No 6, was suspended for that 2025 All-Ireland semi-final but the manner of their filleting that afternoon, when the heart of Dublin’s defence was ripped open time and again, suggested that even the experienced Lucan man couldn’t have prevented the torture.
And so even with a healthy 2-21 registered, Dublin still lost by 20 points.
Ó Ceallacháin is the chief operations officer at Clúid Housing but it didn’t take a high functioning executive to realise that the Dublin defence had been left badly exposed. A game later, Tipperary deployed Bryan O’Mara as an auxiliary defender against Cork, to stop the same thing happening to them, and walked away with the MacCarthy Cup.
The counterpoint is that Dublin had beaten Limerick in the quarter-final without using a sweeper, so they’d have been altering a winning system if they’d changed things up against Cork.
“I could probably easily say that alright, around we’d have been moving away from our system, but then so did Liam Cahill,” said Ó Ceallacháin, when discussing the issue in February. “He did it, and it worked out for him. I don’t know, and that’s the honest answer, if you had it all over again, I don’t know.
“It’s obvious in hindsight based on the outcome of the semi-final and the final, so the easy thing is to say we would do something different and change it up, if we had our time again.
“But it’s never as black and white. It wasn’t the only driver (in losing to Cork) either. I could spend a lot longer with you on it but the short answer to your question is, if we could have it all over again and do things differently? I don’t know.”
At some point, Ó Ceallacháin clearly came to the conclusion that Rushe was the answer, or part of it at least. He’d tried to entice the versatile defender into the panel even before that Cork game, but wasn’t taking no for an answer this year.
And, from Rushe’s perspective, it helped that this was the first spring in three years that he was fully fit. Achilles tendonitis and a trapped nerve in his neck were ongoing concerns.
“I’m healthy now and hopefully I can stay that way,” said Rushe after completing the entire game against Wexford last weekend.
He played at centre-back at Chadwicks Wexford Park and ended up tracking Lee Chin, one helluva welcome back. That match-up came as a surprise as Chin spent more time closer to goal against Kilkenny, and Dublin had been preparing Eoghan O’Donnell to track the Wexford talisman. “That was a bit unexpected,” said Rushe.
But he dealt with it well and gave the sort of commanding performance which suggested he is ready to lock down the centre of Dublin’s defence for the rest of the summer.
Over on the sideline, Ó Ceallacháin must have been satisfied with how he has moved things on defensively. The half-back line that started against Cork last summer was Paddy Doyle-McHugh-Conor Donohoe. Against Wexford last weekend, it was Crummey-Rushe-Conor Burke. Doyle and Donohoe are still starters, but in the full-back line and at midfield respectively. McHugh remains a dogged corner-back but started at six last summer against Cork to mark Shane Barrett.
A Crummey-Rushe-Burke combination, with Rushe in the centre, looks entirely more commanding. Chances are Rushe will swap Chin for Cathal Mannion this weekend which will amount to another huge test of his credentials.
If the Rushe project ultimately doesn’t work out, Ó Ceallacháin can’t be blamed for not trying absolutely everything to push Dublin on since taking over ahead of the 2025 season. Between McHugh’s recall, the second coming afforded to thirty-something John Hetherton or the more recent recall of Eddie Gibbons in goals, Rushe’s comeback is the latest example of an open-minded manager not being afraid to think well outside the box.
“We need everybody who has the interest, the application and the commitment mindset to bring this thing on,” said Ó Ceallacháin back in his first media engagement as Dublin manager. “The door is always very much open for people.”
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