Tuesday evening last at the DCU sports grounds in St Clare’s and Greg McEnaney closed out the first-half scoring for the hosts, and victors, with a cracker of a point.
The Sigerson Cup is a world away from the demands of the National League and Championship but as a signal of early season form in the direction of Dublin manager Dessie Farrell, it was effective.
DCU have an all-Dublin midfield, as it happens, or more specifically an all-Skerries Harps engine room of McEnaney and Ethan Dunne. And right now opportunity is knocking for every single Dubliner who is showing any sort of form in a number eight or nine jersey.
It is the area of highest deficit for Dublin at the beginning of 2025 owing to the retirements of Brian Fenton and James McCarthy, both of whom started there against Galway last summer.
More veterans could follow them, with no public announcements yet regarding the situation with 43-year-old goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton while Michael Fitzsimons wrapped up an interview after Cuala’s All-Ireland club final win last weekend to avoid getting drawn into a county conversation.
Even allowing for that duo’s rare qualities, Farrell may feel he has enough cover to get by, though midfield is not an area in which the Dubs are weighed down by marquee options.
Brian Howard won an All-Star there but that was seven years ago and he has not been a regular midfield man since, his best work more recently being done when gathering up Cluxton’s short kick-outs.
Fenton’s most obvious replacement is Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne who, with 18 senior appearances for Dublin behind him in all competitions, made an impressive pitch for more regular Sky Blues inclusion with his man-of-the-match performance in that club final for Cuala.
He started three league games for Dublin just last year but consistency, and injury avoidance, has been his issue and when it came to the Championship there were only a couple of cameos from the bench against Meath and Cavan.
Asked earlier this month whether becoming a Fenton-like figure for Dublin was his ultimate target, Ó Cofaigh Byrne nodded.
“Yeah, of course,” he said. “Now that there is a hole there, it is an opportunity, definitely. They are 100 per cent tough boots to fill, James and Brian.”
Next to him in Cuala’s All-Ireland winning midfield was Peter Duffy, another action packed ball-carrier who is familiar to Farrell having played in the O’Byrne Cup in each of the last two seasons.
Other options include setting Ciaran Kilkenny or Seán Bugler new challenges away from the attack, placing more responsibility on Tom Lahiff’s shoulders or rolling the dice and seeing how an athlete like Eoghan O’Donnell – best known as a full-back for the Dublin hurlers but an attacker for his club footballers – fares there.
In his only public interview in advance of tomorrow evening’s National Football League opener against Mayo at Croke Park, Farrell didn’t shed any sort of light on his midfield plans.
He did hint at experimentation though when he confirmed in an interview to Dublin GAA that “16 new players” have been drafted on to the Leinster champions’ panel for the Division 1 campaign.
“We’ve gone through a fairly extensive trialling process for club players over the last couple of months,” he said. “There’s some exciting prospects and we hope to use the league campaign this year to give them plenty of exposure and experience and to build towards the Championship.”
Could Farrell even figure that a player such as James Madden, the Ballyboden man who has joined up with Dublin after returning from the AFL, could do a job for him at midfield? Madden played as a defender during his six-year spell with the Brisbane Lions, which yielded 13 appearances. His remarkable pace – he broke the all-time AFL Draft Combine 20m sprint record in 2017 – and impressive conditioning are attributes that could be honed with midfield in mind.
“It’s a very different sport for him and he’s taking his time to get used to it but he’s enjoying his time and we’re enjoying working with him,” said Farrell of the man who wore number 11 for the Dublin U-20s in the 2018 Leinster final.
Farrell’s selection at eight and nine may ultimately come down to which pair he feels is best capable of adapting to the new rules. High fetching has suddenly come back into vogue. Peak conditioning and an ability to put up high mileage is another prerequisite for anyone aspiring to fill the voids left by Fenton and McCarthy.
“Significant boots to fill,” acknowledged Farrell this week. “But that’s the task at hand, for a new generation to step up and carry on the mantle.”
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to the Counter Ruck podcast for the best rugby chat and analysis
