Dublin need to recall Connolly

one obvious alternative — he thinks it could have a bearing on the fivein-a-row. ‘They’ll be vulnerable. Definitely. Because you’re coming up against reasonably strong teams who feel that they’re in with a chance.’ The iconic netminder feels the backpass to the goalkeeper should be outlawed, particularly with regard to restarts. ‘I’d do it immediately because it is creating the extra man for this little circle they have at the back and if everyone marks everyone and they can’t put it back to the keeper then that circle is broken.’ Following Dublin’s second defeat of the current Allianz League campaign away to Kerry on Saturday, Cullen thinks its time to bring back Diarmuid Connolly into the drive for five. ‘You can see the reemergence of Connolly maybe. It’s looking very like it because I’d say he [Gavin] could do with him now. As a leader up there.’

DUBLIN legend Paddy Cullen describes playing in Croke Park as conferring a ‘definite advantage’ on the AllIreland football champions. And the former Dublin keeper can understand why other counties want Jim Gavin’s team to nominate a venue other than Croker for the neutral Super 8s game. Donegal are bringing a motion to the GAA’s Annual Congress in 10 days’ time to challenge last year’s practice of Dublin playing twice at headquarters at the round-robin All-Ireland quarter-final stage. The All-Ireland winner can see where Donegal are coming from with their motion. ‘Yes. I can see why. That’s the first thing that struck me when they brought in that rule, Dublin are going to get two games in Croke Park, that’s for sure. They’re not going to play in Parnell Park so there’s another little chink. ‘They like playing in Croker. Everyone does. But there is a definite advantage in Croker, no doubt about it. Everybody knows it. The dogs in the street know it.’ And he feels that if Dublin have to nominate a bigger venue than Parnell Park to accommodate the crowd and have to travel outside the county because of that — Portlaoise’s O’Moore Park is