What will Diarmuid Connolly add to Dublin's drive for five?
Kieran Donaghy: "You can't risk having a player of Connolly's ability not on the squad."
Monday 15 July 2019 11:53, UK
Sky Sports GAA pundits Senan Connell, Kieran Donaghy and Peter Canavan give their thoughts on Diarmuid Connolly's return to the Dublin panel.
The St Vincent's club man, widely regarded as one of the finest footballers in the country, hasn't appeared in a Dublin jersey since February 2018.
However, it was announced on Sunday that he has sensationally rejoined the squad, as the Sky Blues bid for an unprecedented five-in-a-row.
"We didn't see this coming," said former Dubs star Senan Connell.
"We thought the story was dead and buried. A few weeks ago, my own club Na Fianna played against St Vincent's the night before he was due to fly to America, and he didn't tog out. We believed he was going on that plane, and he had no interest in playing with the club. But now he's back on the panel."
However, Connell noted that it might not prove a popular decision across the entire squad.
"We do know that Jim [Gavin] talks to the senior players," he continued. "I'm sure no major decision like this is made by management alone, there would have been a collective approach. The understanding of the players would have been taken on board.
"The knock-on effect might come to fringe players; players who have trained in November, December, January, February, in the tough, harsh winter, where they would have been pushing to try and get a place.
"They mightn't be too happy with it. But for the great and good of Dublin, Jim Gavin has seen that they're better off having Diarmuid there than not having him there."
Kieran Donaghy feels the addition of such the two-time All-Star will be a huge boost to Dubs, as they bid for history in the coming weeks.
"Connolly has been with this team from the start," said Donaghy, dismissing the notion that his arrival might cause controversy within the camp.
"He was there for the three-in-a-row. He missed out last year. He's back for a five-in-a-row bid. Nobody will look back on this in 20 years, and say he was in Boston or he was here, they'll just remember [whether or not] Dublin did the five in a row.
"I've been saying since the start of the year, get Rory O'Carroll back and get Diarmuid Connolly back. Because when you're going for history, you get one crack at it.
"This is Dublin's crack at it. If they don't win this year, it's an awful long way to get back to five in a row again.
"If it doesn't work out, it will be the one thing that will be kicked back always.
"But that's the chance you have to take. You can't risk having a player of Connolly's ability not on the squad."
Peter Canavan pointed out a comparable occurrence unfolded during his playing career, when Stephen O'Neill rejoined the Red Hands set-up ahead of an All-Ireland final:
"Something similar happened to Tyrone in the 2008 final, when Stephen O'Neill wasn't part of the team all along. Mickey [Harte] brought him back in just for the final. The players had no problem with it. They respected Stephen O'Neill and knew the difference he would make. We went on to win it.
"But if Dublin lose, then they're all going to say it was a mistake bringing him back. But I think it's the right thing to do.
"He's one of the most gifted footballers I've ever seen.
"He's got something special about him, he's got an aura about him. Even to come onto a game in the last ten minutes, the Dublin supporters will respond to him."
Focus will now turn to whether Connolly features for Dublin on Saturday, when they face Roscommon in the Super 8s, a game which will be live on Sky Sports.
You can watch the full discussion on Connolly's return in the video at the top of this article.
Sky Sports' live GAA coverage continues on Saturday, with Tyrone vs Cork and Dublin vs Roscommon in the Super 8s.
You can also stay up to date with all the action by following us @SkySportsGAA and get all the latest news, previews and interviews at www.skysports.com/gaa.
