As Dessie Farrell gets the nod to continue as Dublin supremo for a further two years, he must have been left wondering how the race for Sam could have ended differently had his scoring sharpshooter Con O’Callaghan been available to line out against Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final last month.
Although nowhere near their best, Dublin only lost out to a late, late long-distance from Kerry skipper Sean O’Shea knowing that if O’Callaghan has been playing, the chances are such a score would not have been so decisive.
At the weekend in the Dublin championship, the Cuala star scored 1-6 on his return to football action at O’Toole Park as the south Dublin side easily beat Clontarf by 4-11 to 3-7.
His movement and ability to pick off scores were shown up clearly in this game but there was an element of good news for Farrell and those watching who have the future of Dublin at heart.
Con’s younger brother Niall also announced himself at this level by scoring 3-1, and with that sort of prowess, surely it is only a matter of time before the O’Callaghan brothers are spearheading the Dublin attack.
Cormac Costello, whose goal in the All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry brought Dublin roaring back into the game, showed his ability to get an important score when he shot to the net from a free with time almost up to edge his team Whitehall Colmcille’s to a two-point win over Castleknock.
All of which will have given heart to Farrell, who was by no means the unanimous choice to continue as leader of the Dublin squad for the 2023 season.
However now that he had been given the green light, he will be heartened by watching these club championship games knowing that he failed to unearth sufficient new blood last year to augment the talents of Ciaran Kilkenny, Brian Fenton, Brian Howard, Dean Rock and company.
Rock is now entering his 34th year and there is no doubt that O’Callaghan will be vital if the Dubs are to stop their current two year drought, after watching Tyrone and Kerry step into their shoes of being six-in-a-row champs.
Tyrone players will make it up to fans: Hampsey
Speaking of Tyrone, their captain Paddy Hampsey has held his hands up on behalf of his teammates by accepting that they let their supporters down in a big way in the season just gone by.
Under Mickey Harte, Tyrone won three All-Irelands in the noughties but failed to deliver back-to-back titles. This could be a good omen for the current squad who stormed to victory by beating Kerry in the semi-final and Mayo in the final in 2021 but were out of sorts from game one of championship fare against Derry this year. They then followed that dismal showing up by being dumped out of the qualifiers by neighbors Armagh, thus ending their season.
Explained the Coalisland and Tyrone defender: “We know we didn’t perform to our best ability this year, and we have got the get the Tyrone people behind us again, and get the thing going again. But with the lads coming back with that bit of hunger, a bit of fight again for next year, we’ll hopefully push on, because we have a young enough squad there.”
He went on: “It was a strange one, getting a bit of time off throughout the summer. I got to go away on holiday, which was the first time in six or seven years. Things just didn’t get going this year. It’s hard to put a finger on it, but the Ulster Championship is such a tough competition. It’s tough to get going, you’re always coming up against big opposition.”
Looking back on the failure to rise up to the Derry challenge, he stressed: “Any day you put on a Tyrone jersey, you go out to do the team proud and the jersey proud. Derry have had a great year and they did well to win the Ulster Championship, and Armagh, beating us in the Qualifiers, we were really disappointed getting beat that day in the Athletic Grounds. We’ll get the batteries recharged in around the winter months and get back to Garvaghey and get training hard, because we know that we have a point to prove now.
“You saw how good Kerry were this year. They’re such a good team, and they have some serious talent and players coming through there. I would say over the next few years they will be a team that will be hard to stop. The All-Ireland is such a tough competition, and there are a lot of teams that on their day can beat anybody. But we’re looking forward to getting back in the winter months, getting the miles in the legs and getting going.”
Early finish boost to USA GAA circuit
Newly-appointed Meath manager Colm O’Rourke, believes that the American Gaelic games circuit will get a massive boost from the new split-season, which sees intercounty fare finished in July.
That means that most counties are out of the frame in June, thus allowing star players to leave home for more lucrative rewards in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego and wherever there is ambition by U.S.-based clubs to win their local championships.
Says the former two-time All-Ireland winner: “What is happening now is a movement of players on an industrial scale when counties are knocked out, and the early championship finish here is now facilitating this mass movement.”
Writing in his Sunday Independent sports columns, he claimed: “The GAA does not own players but the question needs to be asked whether there is any need for the All-Ireland to be so early when counties are not going to start club championships until August no matter where their team goes out.
“It makes far more sense to start the league a month later and finish the All-Ireland a month later. This would not suit many county men who get a nice earner from playing in some far-off place in the summer months, but the number one priority is a paper games schedule in sunny Ireland. The current split season needs a rethink otherwise we accept an early end to the county championship here which allows players to go on holidays in most of June and July and if they find a golden goose in some U.S. city, then good luck to them.”
