JAMES BOND
Blues boss Dessie admits Mccarthy holds a special place in hearts of all Dubs and is in line for the captaincy again
JAMES MCCARTHY is in pole position to captain Dublin again in 2024 – provided he signs up for another season.
The All-ireland winning skipper, 33, is among a group of ultra experienced Dublin players currently considering their futures.
Boss Dessie Farrell said that they still have a “couple of weeks to make that decision” and won’t feature in the Dioralyte O’byrne Cup.
Dublin are through to the semifinals of the pre-season competition and will host Wexford tomorrow at Parnell Park (1.30pm).
The Sky Blues open their National League campaign with a Croke Park tie under lights against Monaghan on Saturday, January 27.
Asked about Dublin captaincy, Farrell said: “That will sort of emerge as we can go on.
“It’s not something we’ve thought about, if James is around I’m sure he’ll be in that position again. But we’ll have a conversation at the appropriate time.” Farrell has indicated that even if veterans like Mccarthy, Stephen Cluxton, Dean Rock and Michael Fitzsimons want to go again in 2024, they’ll be eased in.
He said: “We wouldn’t be using them in the early games in the League anyway because there’s a lot of mileage on the clock.”
Farrell, who has experienced both relegation and promotion as Dublin manager, said: “We want to be competitive at the same time in the League because you could very easily find yourself in a dogfight as well. We’re probably much later getting back than every other county
I’d imagine.
“For us, it’s about trying to be competitive and to set our sights on the summer and having everyone available, having as many fit and healthy and available as we can.”
Farrell brought 23 players to Gracefield in Portarlington for last weekend’s battling O’byrne Cup quarter-final win over Offaly. Goalkeepers David O’hanlon and Evan Comerford, along with top scorer Brian O’leary, were the only ones with senior Championship experience.
The rest were mostly former underage stars with the likes of
Killian Mcginnis, who scored 0-2,
Luke Swan,
Liam Smith,
Senan Forker and Kevin Lahiff all subsequently featuring in the Sigerson Cup.
Dublin will face Meath or Longford in the
O’byrne Cup final if they win tomorrow though Farrell said it’s ultimately about finding “a few who might be strong enough or have the capacity to step up and make a contribution to the core squad”.
All Star Colm Basquel got his chance in last year’s O’byrne Cup and ended up being the only player to feature in all 19 of Dublin’s competitive games, starting on January 4 and ending with July’s All-ireland final win.
Farrell said: “We didn’t do as extensive a trial this year because you’re going back to some of the fellas who have been tried and tested over the last two years and it’s a little bit beyond
them.”