THE O’CALL TO ARMS

Costello delighted to see Dubs star back Con track

CORMAC COSTELLO has hailed Con O’callaghan’s eye-catching return as a game-changer for Dublin’s Championship hopes.

Having been absent for a dreadful League campaign that saw the Dubs relegated, O’callaghan burst onto the Championship stage with 1-6 against Wexford last Saturday.

The Cuala hitman’s tally was greater on the day that he managed in last year’s Championship in total.

Forward colleague Costello (left) was impressed after a close-up view of the 26-year-old’s headline-making comeback as Meath hover into view as Leinster semi-final opponents on Sunday week.

“Big time,” Costello stressed. “Con was obviously out injured for the League. He’s somebody who is a massive player for us and you saw at the weekend what he can do. We’re just delighted to have Con fully fit and back on the pitch.

“He’s a very direct player, he’s extremely strong on the ball.”

Aside from his process in front of the posts, Costello points to O’callaghan’s ability to create chances and gaps for others as a major plus point for Dublin as they look to bounce back from last year’s All-ireland semifinal loss to Mayo.

“He’s a team player as well – it’s very nice playing with Con because you get opportunities,” said Costello.

“He’s somebody you can feed off. He’s an unselfish player and he’s somebody that brings you into the game.

“He’s a big leader for us on the pitch, a big presence and somebody we are glad to have back.”

Brian Fenton (inset, above) was another key Dublin player back in form last weekend. Like O’callaghan, he amassed more points on Saturday – five in the midfielder’s case – than he did in last year’s Championship.

For Costello, Fenton’s Rolls Royce display was confirmation that Dublin are back on track after the inconsistency of their League form.

“He was excellent at the weekend – I think that stems from the team performance at the end of the day,” said the Whitehall Colmcille man.

“Our team performances across the League campaign, we were OK in patches but across the 70 minutes, we weren’t good enough.

“Individual performances have improved and Brian showed how good he is on Saturday night.

“Being relegated is very disappointing. We were glad to get back out there and get a good performance in, and that’s ultimately what we did down in Wexford Park.

“It was nice to get the win under our belt. We wouldn’t be listening to the noise. When you’re not winning games, you know when you’re not in a good position.

“We tried something like maybe 50 different players during the League. There was a lot of squad rotation, a lot of lads were out with injuries, we were trying to try out new systems of play.

“Individual performances probably weren’t good enough and that consistency piece – we were more concerned about that.”