Jim Gavin hopes rested Diarmuid Connolly will feature in championship

Jim Gavin hopes Diarmuid Connolly will be in Dublin colours again later this year after revealing he and the player had agreed to rest him.

Connolly last appeared, as a substitute, against Mayo in Castlebar at the end of February. It was reported yesterday that he was disenchanted with Gaelic games. Informed about the Sunday Times article, Gavin said the claim about his disinterest was “news to me”.

He said: “His status at the moment is that both Diarmuid and I agreed that what was best was that he would take a rest over these games. He has had a long number of years playing senior inter-county football, as have a lot of this group, and that decision was made in his best interests.”