The words a substitute doesn’t want to hear...

WE HEAR so much about football being a panel game, it has not entered the realm of cliché. But, as with most cases, it’s a cliche born from truth.

On the biggest days in Croke Park, substitutions are key. The timing and quality of replacements can often be the difference between winning and losing. In the modern game, the management has to consider the 15 that’ll finish as carefully as the 15 that start.

Late on, as the game fractures and becomes more about holding possession and picking a pass at the right time, a player composed on the ball is invaluable. In the recent National League final, the Cork management team were shrewder and made much better changes than Dublin and won. They introduced players like Nicholas Murphy to win vital possession (he had a hand in both the equalising and winning points) and close out the game for them.