Kevin McManamon couldn’t tell his brother he was starting for Dublin

They run a tight ship in Dublin, so much so that not even Kevin McManamon’s big brother, former county man Brendan, was allowed to know that his sibling was starting last weekend.

Brendan, 34, a Leinster medallist with Dublin in 2008, texted Kevin on Saturday morning to enquire if his omission from the official team to face Kerry was correct or simply a dummy team strategy.

It proved to be the latter, with McManamon starting in attack, one of two changes to the team, and he was many people’s man-of-the-match choice following a strong display in the two-point win.