Dynamic duo could be reunited in Dublin attack
They’re an odd couple, no doubt about that, but Diarmuid Connolly and Bernard Brogan have been tangled together in blue for a dozen years now.
Mild of manner and immediately charming, Brogan is the PR company director who has happily maxed out his media profile over the years with a string of high profile endorsement and sponsorship deals.
Connolly, who made his Championship debut for Dublin 14 days ahead of Brogan in 2007, has rarely been one for PR.
Yet think of one and the other inevitably springs to mind, the pair making 107 Championship appearances between them - Brogan 59, Connolly 48 - and starting 36 times together in the Dublin forward line.
It remains to be seen how Jim Gavin approaches tomorrow’s Super 8s game against Roscommon but he could be of a mind to reunite his ultra experienced duo.
Brogan, just back from his cruciate knee ligament injury, made his only appearance of last year’s Championship against Roscommon as Gavin made 10 changes from the previous game.
All six of his forwards that day hadn’t lined out against Tyrone in the previous outing and Gavin may feel this is another opportunity to assess the depth of his firepower, albeit last year’s game was a dead rubber while this isn’t.
Brogan, according to Gavin, is fully fit and training well despite not featuring yet this summer while Connolly rejoined training last weekend after missing the guts of two seasons for reasons nobody is clear of.
If the pair both play tomorrow evening, it’ll be their first time on the field together for Dublin since they both came on as subs in the 2017 All-Ireland final.
They haven’t both started a Championship game for Dublin since the drawn final of 2016.
Some have argued that while Dublin continue to win All-Irelands, they’ve lacked a spark of creativity and a vital x-factor without them.
When Dublin’s need was greatest in the 2017 final replay against Mayo, Connolly came on and contributed directly to four points that helped secure a one-point win that day.
Earlier that summer, albeit in less pressurised circumstances, Brogan oozed quality with five points as a sub against Kildare in the Leinster final.
“Their forwards are very methodical and effective but they’re nearly athletes first and foremost,” commented Carlow coach Steven Poacher last August.
Don’t get me wrong, they’re still fabulous footballers, I’m not taking that away from them, but they’re maybe lacking that little bit of instinct of a Connolly who can do something out of the norm.
It’s certainly not the swashbuckling Dublin of 2013 when they were at their most exciting and free-spirited.
Brogan and Connolly started every game that summer, accounting for 4-28 between them.
Dublin are still capable of applying broad brushstrokes of genius like they did then. They hit Cork for 5-18 just last weekend but O’Callaghan, arguably the Connolly figure of the present team, was as happy dropping deep to help out the defence in that game as he was pulling the strings in attack.
Paul Mannion likewise.
It is in this more methodical and cerebral manner that five-in-a-row chasing Dublin go about their business now though a little inspiration never hurts and that’s where Connolly and Brogan could come in.
Jim McGuinness predicted that a ‘crunch’ moment would come for Dublin during the 2018 Championship and that, in Connolly’s absence, somebody else would have to provide the team with an electric charge. Ultimately, this ‘crunch’ moment may have been Mannion’s dispossession of a goal-bound Cathal McShane in Dublin’s three-point win over Tyrone in the Super 8s.
From that game on, Dublin looked in cruise control. Another crunch moment could come in the next few weeks and the temptation to see what Connolly or Brogan could potentially offer the team this weekend must be strong.
Gavin’s forward options aren’t as strong 12 months on with Colm Basquel, Paul Flynn, Eoghan O’Gara and Paddy Andrews - all of whom started against Roscommon in 2018 - unavailable or apparently out of favour.
Basquel is playing in America and Flynn has retired while Andrews made just two appearances as a sub in the Leinster championship and O’Gara has only featured once all year, against Tyrone in the league.
At 32 and 35 respectively, and given Connolly’s elongated absence, he and Brogan are surely viewed as potential impact subs only for the remainder of the Championship.
Brogan has already fulfilled this role, throughout 2017 when he contributed 0-9 as a sub in five Championship games, though Connolly was a virtual guaranteed starter during his Dublin career.
Of his 48 Championship appearances, 43 of them were from the throw-in so a change of mindset may be required for the former vice-captain who has only ever been a team leader, for club and county.
Still, if Brogan’s glowing tribute to Connolly in 2014 is anything to go by, Connolly is capable of adapting to this fresh challenge.
“The player I’d rate as the best footballer at the moment in Ireland is Diarmuid Connolly,” said Brogan then.
“Pound for pound he is the most skillful guy I’ve ever played with at any time during my career.”
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