Dessie Farrell to cut Dublin panel as National League looms

Dublin manager Dessie Farrell ahead of the O'Byrne Cup final this month. Picture: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Dublin manager Dessie Farrell has confirmed he will cut back his O'Byrne Cup winning panel for Saturday's Allianz League opener against Armagh.

Farrell handed game time to 40 different players throughout the Dubs' four-game campaign, Castleknock's Robert Shaw the latest debutant in last weekend's final defeat of Laois.

With established stars Jonny Cooper, Evan Comerford, Michael Fitzsimons, Con O'Callaghan, Dean Rock and Robbie McDaid yet to feature in 2022, Farrell could end up using close to 50 players in January alone.

The 2020 All-Ireland winning manager said he expects to begin the league with a trimmed down panel of around 38, meaning a chunk of his O'Byrne Cup winners will be released.

"I'd imagine the figure will be around 36-38 players," said Farrell who finally handed a senior debut to Ciaran Archer, a prolific scorer at U20 level in 2019 and 2020, against Longford this month. "He got injured that day unfortunately, he missed out on his Sigerson game then so we're just monitoring how Ciaran's injury is coming on."

Defender Lee Gannon, an All-Ireland U20 finalist in 2020 like Archer, played in all four of Dublin's O'Byrne Cup games, starting three and contributing 0-3 and looks certain to be retained.

Ballymun's Cameron McCormack, who started against Laois and Louth, has emerged as a midfield option while Ross McGarry, another former U-20 attacker, kicked 0-5 in the pre-season competition.

"I'd imagine that anyone who is going to be in the mix has been identified at this stage," said Farrell, who will come up against former Na Fianna playing colleague Kieran McGeeney on Saturday evening.

"Armagh were very impressive last season, probably unlucky not to go further in the Championship. They'll be relishing the opportunity to play in Division 1. They're well set up, well organised, very fit, physical and have a good style of football about them."

A Dublin captain has yet to be announced with Ciaran Kilkenny and Brian Fenton sharing the duties in the O'Byrne Cup. Cooper and James McCarthy captained Dublin in 2021.