O'Callaghan can't bail out Blues on his own, says Brogan

Return of three-time All Star heralded as just the tonic for Dublin ahead of Leinster opener but former captain calls for realistic expectations 

In the nick of time: Con O'Callaghan could return for Dublin's Leinster SFC opener against Wexford this weekend. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Former Dublin captain Alan Brogan has warned supporters not to expect Con O'Callaghan to bail the county out in the Championship.

Three-time All-Star O'Callaghan missed the league which ended in a surprise relegation for Dublin though it's hoped that he'll be available for Saturday evening's Leinster SFC opener against Wexford.

O'Callaghan has struggled since last year with a mixture of knee and ankle injuries but while ex-Dublin star Paul Curran suggested earlier this week that a 'rejuvenated' King Con can inspire the struggling Dubs, Brogan isn't so sure.

"Having Con back obviously will be huge but look, you can't put it all on one guy either," said Brogan. "I saw a quote this morning saying Con's back, it'll reinvigorate this team. But it is difficult for him. I'd say he hasn't played football for four or five months and even at that stage he was probably struggling after the inter-county campaign. He has a lot of football played over the last few years so it'll test him to come into a game like that in Wexford Park. Maybe looking for a huge impact is asking a lot of of him."

Dublin lost five of their seven Allianz League games, resulting in relegation to Division 2.

"For me, Dublin looked as if they were in a similar style to what they played a couple of years ago, where teams had a lot of men behind the ball and maybe they were missing a bit of a ball-winner in the full-forward line," said Brogan.

"Maybe having Con back inside will add a bit of ball-winning ability that they can maybe have a bit more confidence to kick it in a bit more. That's certainly what I'd like to see about them.

"We've seen with this Dublin team, when they move the ball quickly they're really, really dangerous but in the league it looked like teams had kind of figured out this patient hand-passing style that we've become accustomed to and seen them play over the last number of years.

"I'd expect that the game plan will have slightly evolved from where we saw them over the course of the National League."

Brogan reckons that with Dublin struggling, the Leinster championship overall will finally be competitive again.

"It's definitely going to be closer," he suggested. "It's back to where it was maybe in 2009, 2010, 2011, around that time when we were having very tight games with the likes of Meath and Kildare."

*Alan Brogan was speaking at the Sport Ireland Campus 'Here We Go' launch, a campaign designed to raise national awareness and pride in the world class facilities at the Sport Ireland Campus and to encourage everyone to take the opportunity to experience the home of Irish sport.