THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN
Mannion and McCaffrey put Dublin firmly in the picture
IMAGINE the boost it must have given James McCarthy, John Small, Dean Rock, Jonny Cooper, Michael Fitzsimons and more to wake up to the news that Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion are on the way back.
McCarthy has already said he’s playing on for another year or two with Dublin.
If Fitzsimons, Rock or anyone else was considering calling it a day, and there’s no sign that they were, then this might just change their minds.
It’s worth recapping on what Dublin are getting back here, and what Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Tyrone and the others will have to deal with in 2023.
McCaffrey was man of the match in two All-Ireland finals and is a former Footballer of the Year (2015).
As proven big-day performers go, it doesn’t get much better than the Clontarf club man.
McCaffrey is still just 28. He holds five All-Ireland medals and four All Stars despite missing the vast majority of five seasons, having debuted for Dublin seniors back in 2013.
He’s been out of inter-county GAA for three full seasons, while he sat out the 2016 AllIreland winning year as he undertook charity work and traveled in Africa that summer.
Ruptured
McCaffrey also missed most of the 2018 season with a ruptured cruciate ligament sustained early on in the 2017 All-Ireland final win over Mayo.
Dublin are not getting a washed up 30-something on the go at inter-county level for over a decade, coming back after a raft of injuries.
The Sky Blues have won AllIrelands before without McCaffrey, but they’re far better with him, particularly as they’re clearly not the force they once were.
Mannion is widely regarded as one of the best forwards in the country. He is 29 and the holder of six All-Ireland titles and three All Stars.
Mannion took a year out to go to China on a work placement, while he also sat out the last two seasons.
Like McCaffrey, he hasn’t got huge miles on the clock compared to some others.
Mannion was injured as Kilmacud Crokes lost the AllIreland final to Kilcoo after extra-time back in January, but is back flying for his club again.
Crokes got a scare against Cuala at the weekend, but if they progress as many expect Mannion will be playing deep into the winter before he rejoins the Dublin squad.
Dublin boss Dessie Farrell wouldn’t be human if he didn’t believe the county would have more than one All-Ireland from his three years in charge if McCaffrey and Mannion had been around.
In fact, there are many out there who reckon Dublin would be eyeing up a nine-in-a-row next year if McCaffrey and Mannion — two of their top six or seven players — had never left the squad.
The narrative out there is that if Con O’Callaghan had played against Kerry in this year’s All-Ireland semi-final Dublin would have won.
Pundit
That was certainly the prediction of almost every pundit in the lead-in to the game.
O’Callaghan didn’t play and in the end Dublin still only lost out to an astonishing last-gasp Sean O’Shea dead ball from 50 metres.
A year earlier Dublin looked to be out the gap at half-time against Mayo in the All-Ireland semi-final but wound up beaten after extra-time.
McCaffrey and Mannion were missing for both those last four defeats.
Mannion was there for the six-in-a-row winter AllIreland win, coming in off the bench against Mayo, but McCaffrey wasn’t.
So in practical terms, what does the return of McCaffrey and Mannion actually mean?
McCaffrey’s pace and relentless running made him possibly the top gamebreaker from the half-back line the sport has ever seen.
His goal in the 2019 AllIreland final draw with Kerry, taking off after a long Stephen Cluxton kickout, Brian Howard catch and passes from Ciaran Kilkenny and Niall Scully, showed McCaffrey at his very best.
Speed
He was literally thinking two or three moves ahead and his run was at breakneck pace.
Next year if Dublin face a Kerry side, which only conceded three goals this season, McCaffrey’s speed on the counter attack and ability to punch holes in what is now the best defence in the country will be absolutely key.
Plenty of opponents, including Kerry in 2019, have attempted to man mark wingback McCaffrey, something which shows the high esteem he is held in, and not an everyday happening for a defender.
By 2019 — his more recent year with Dublin — McCaffrey and Con O’Callaghan had emerged as Dublin’s two biggest goal threats and the players the opposition set out to stop above all others.
In 2019 Mayo man marked McCaffrey with Patrick Durcan, while Kerry tried Gavin White on him.
Dublin will be a far more potent attacking force with the flying doctor in their ranks.
The same goes for Mannion. Mannion is a classy point taker, and if anything his range has improved in recent years. He is now capable of pointing from 40 metres over and over again.
Capable
With Mannion in the team, Con O’Callaghan fit and Ciaran Kilkenny in situ the opposition now require three outstanding man markers, capable of going for the full 75 to 80 minutes to contain them.
The interplay of the Dublin attack as a unit will invariably improve with Mannion’s pace, intelligence and balance meaning he will take up a lot of the opposition’s focus.
There is a further knock-on effect for the likes of Cormac Costello, Dean Rock and newcomers like Lorcan O’Dell, who won’t face the very best man markers Kerry, Galway, Tyrone and Mayo have to offer.
This makes them far more likely to cut loose on the big days.
Above all else, the three biggest things McCaffrey and Mannion bring to Dublin are searing pace, proven ability on the most pressurised of days and proper competition for starting places.
They take the heat off the Dubs and turn it up the opposition.
Throw the crack duo in along with a fully fit O’Callaghan and Dublin will rightly be favourites for next year’s All-Ireland.