Door open for Diarmuid Connolly return for Dublin's five-in-a-row bid

By Brendan O’Brien

Diarmuid Connolly will find the door to Dublin’s dressing-room remains wide open when he returns to Ireland in the coming weeks.

The two-time All Star and five-time All-Ireland winner featured just once for the county in this year’s Allianz League and has spent the summer in the USA, winning the Boston SFC with the Donegal club earlier this month.

Now 31, Connolly is bordering on old in the context of an inter-county scene that is more a young man’s game than ever but selector Declan Darcy insists that the four-in-a-row All-Ireland champions would be delighted to welcome him back into the fold.

Should he so choose.

“We have the highest regard for Diarmuid and we want him back 110%,” said Darcy.

He’s due back in two weeks. If he’s playing to form, he’s happy, he wants to be part of the group and we feel he can fit into the group then, absolutely.

“There are no issues from our end towards Diarmuid. Again, it’s an amateur sport. There are no having to do things, it’s all about choices. He decided this year that he needed to take a little bit of time away and he should have been allowed that.

“We allowed him to do that. There’s no ... Jack McCaffrey left us, Rory O’Carroll left us. The same rules would apply to those players as Diarmuid. If he comes back, we have an awful lot of loyalty towards him. We have fought hard battles with Diarmuid.” The average age of the Dublin 15 that started Sunday’s latest All-Ireland win, against Tyrone, was six months younger than the side which accounted for Kerry back in 2015 and yet eleven of their 36-man panel are thirtysomethings.

There has been no indication yet that any are ready to cash in their chips. That includes Bernard Brogan who returned from cruciate ligament damage this year when appearing as a sub against Roscommon in the Super 8s but didn’t make the matchday 26 for the decider.

“What I’d say again is, I wouldn’t underestimate the enjoyment of the group,” said Darcy when asked about Brogan for 2019. “They excel at what they’re doing and it would be very hard to step away from the group. Yeah, it would be very challenging for any player to step away.

“There is such camaraderie within the group, it’s unbelievable, they really enjoy what they do. And I think it would be very difficult for anyone to step away, especially in the context of what they are likely to be chasing next year.”

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