Dubs are left to sweat over Small and O’Sullivan

JIM Gavin has injury concerns over defenders John Small and Cian O’Sullivan heading into Saturday week’s All-Ireland SFC final replay with Kerry.

The pair face a race against time to be part of the drive for five, with Small nursing a hand injury which saw him replaced as a blood substitute in the 57th minute and not return to the fray.

Having taken Small’s place, Eoin Murchan is in pole position to start should he be ruled out, while O’Sullivan is believed to have been nursing a hamstring injury going into Sunday’s clash.

The 31-year-old wasn’t moving freely during the warm-up and it is understood that this is why the six-time All-Ireland winner wasn’t called in to fire fight.

Kerry came through with a clean bill of health and the extra two weeks may afford James O’Donoghue the chance to make the matchday 26 and save his injury-ravaged season.

Meanwhile, Dublin did not release Jack McCaffrey to the GAA’s broadcast partners to receive his man of the match award.

McCaffrey lit up the final with a scintillating display from halfback, scoring 1-3 and making a number of important tackles.

But the customary post-match presentation and interview did take place in their hotel on the night of the final as part of ‘The Sunday Game’ coverage. Sky Sports, however, do not present an award for the final.

In the case of recent drawn All-Ireland finals in hurling and football, the recipients have been filmed getting their awards in the aftermath of games and in some cases have been interviewed too.

Dublin made it clear that manager Gavin would be their only representative in interviews.