Fresh voices can help Harte lift Hands

BACK in February, only days after his team had carved out a hard-earned win up in Armagh in the opening round of the league, Bernard Brogan was wheeled out at one of those sponsored media gigs to give his assessment about Dublin’s prospects for the season.

Although it was a full six months before his team would meet and rout Tyrone in Croke Park, it was obvious that the Blue Book this Dublin team was reading from was one essentially written by the Red Hands.

Brogan talked about how up until the last season or two, Dublin would have taken a “give it a lash” approach to a fixture like that; a win in the Athletics Ground would have been less of a target as a bonus. But if Dublin were to get back winning All-Irelands, they had to consistently win on the road and get back contesting league finals.