Dubs boss Gilroy ponders dilemma as Brogans to miss league opener

DUBLIN will be weakened by the loss of both Brogan brothers, Alan and Bernard, for their high profile Allianz Football League opener against old rivals Kerry in under three weeks.

All-Ireland winning boss Pat Gilroy revealed the full extent of his injury problems after Saturday night’s facile Bórd na Mona O’Byrne Cup quarter-final defeat of UCD at Parnell Park and it makes for grim reading.

Footballer of the Year Alan has emerged as the big loss, for up to four weeks, after aggravating a knee injury while sibling Bernard only returns from an extended holiday in the days before the Kingdom tie.

Gilroy also confirmed that county title-winning St Brigid’s midfielder Barry Cahill will miss several rounds of league action as he addresses various niggling injuries; defender Kevin Nolan will miss the Kerry tie through injury while midfielder Denis Bastick is still away on honeymoon and may not be match fit.

Against that background, Gilroy will have been delighted with the continued good form of St Sylvester’s man, Michael McCarthy, in attack for Dublin.

He scored three points in both the Dubs Stars challenge on New Year’s Day and the O’Byrne Cup first-round defeat of Carlow before moving up a gear on Saturday with five points.

UCD represented tame opposition for a Dublin side that breezed through on home soil with just four starters from the All-Ireland winning team. Shane Supple got his first start of the year in goal, keeping a clean sheet, while other fringe players including Eamon Fennell, Paddy Andrews and 2011 super sub Kevin McManamon impressed.

McManamon, in fact, scored another trademark solo goal, a la his September showpiece at Croke Park, helping Dublin to a nine-point half-time lead while second-half strikes from skipper Bryan Cullen, Diarmuid Connolly and Sean Murray wrapped up an easy win.

“We conceded a bit too much but at the end of the day, after the work we’ve put in over the last two weeks, we’d be happy enough with it,” said Gilroy, whose players have been training early in the mornings before work.

“You’d love to have everyone back and available but there’s no point rushing fellas back from injuries either. We’re really still just getting back into it. Our shooting and our handling, as you’d expect with the work we’re doing, could be better. But the effort and the application was great.”

Former captain David Henry was another notable absentee from the Dublin camp after announcing his retirement last week. Given the injury concerns he would have been likely to get a run in the league, though Gilroy says he won’t be asking the versatile Raheny man to reconsider.

“We had a pretty long chat about it,” said Gilroy. “He’s pretty definite about it. That’s the decision he’s making. I totally respect that. I’m not going to push him. He wouldn’t make a decision like that lightly. That’s the bottom line.”

Laois senior Donie Kingston was UCD’s best player with four points while Roscommon’s Niall Kilroy and Armagh’s Kevin Dyas kicked three points between them but they’ll be looking for a big improvement in the Sigerson Cup.

Dublin led 1-11 to 0-5 at half-time and though Tomas Quinn was withdrawn with a back injury after impressing with five points and replaced by goal scorer Connolly, Gilroy expects it’s “nothing major”.

DUBLIN: S Supple; C O’Sullivan, M Fitzsimons, D Daly; K Connolly, G Brennan, D Byrne; E Fennell (0-1), R McConnell (0-1); B Cullen (1-0), K McManamon (1-1), P Brogan; P Andrews (0-1), T Quinn (0-5; 3f, 1 45), M McCarthy (0-5; 1f).

Subs: D Connolly (1-0) for Quinn h/t, S Murray (1-0) for Brogan 46, G McIntyre for Cullen 55, D Treanor for O’Sullivan 57, R Corcoran for Andrews 58.

UCD: M McGinley; J Hayes, M Furlong, S Redmond; C Dias (0-1), R O’Carroll, C McConnell; C Murphy, M O Cochlain; C Carty, K Dyas (0-1), L Smith (0-1; 1 s/l); N Kilroy (0-3), A Giles (0-1), D Kingston (0-4; 3f).

Subs: D Maguire for Dias 23, D Larkin (0-1) for Furlong h/t, L Cawley for Smith 45, M O’Reagan for Giles 45, L Keaney for McConnell 53.

Referee: F Kelly (Longford).