Making an impact: Cormac Costello growing accustomed to a starting role
Dublin footballers Cormac Costello and Sinéad Aherne in attendance at the launch of this year's AIG Men's and Women's Cups and Shields and AIG Men's and Women's Irish Amateur Close Championships at Elm Park Golf Club in Dublin. AIG also revealed online discounted offers on new car and home insurance policies for Golf Ireland members - for more details go to www.aig.ie/golfer or call 1800407407. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
After biding his time across 10 seasons of Championship football, Cormac Costello is finally a Dublin regular.
The 27-year-old broke new ground when Dublin beat Wexford last weekend in Leinster, starting his fifth consecutive Championship game for the first time in his career.
Costello started four games in a row in 2019 but prior to that he made just two starts in 39 Championship games between 2013 and 2018 - one of those the 2014 loss to Donegal - as he struggled to dislodge some of the greatest forwards Dublin has ever produced.
In any other county, a player that talented would have been guaranteed his place though that self serving thought never entered Costello's head.
"No way, I'm a Dub, Dublin born and bred and I only ever had aspirations of playing for Dublin so I never thought like that," said Costello. "The competition was so great as well with serious players and seriously talented forwards coming into the team. You want to be playing, if you're on the panel you are pushing to start or to play as long as you can but at the same time I was under no illusions that I was still in a very privileged position because there were other lads who were not on the team, or who weren't coming on, so any time you get to play your are very thankful for that.
"It's something that is what it is and I'm thankful I got a few starts and we'll see what happens now over the summer."
Costello struck two points in Saturday's landslide win over Wexford. A sixth consecutive Championship appearance against Meath on Sunday week seems a dead cert until you factor in the increased competition for places as a result of Con O'Callaghan's return. Costello sees it a different way, that it's a great opportunity to play alongside King Con.
"It's very nice playing with Con because you get opportunities, he's somebody you can feed off as well. He's an unselfish player and he's somebody that brings you into the game. He's a big leader for us on the pitch, a big presence and somebody we are glad to have back."
Costello didn't necessarily sense things going awry during the league, which ended in relegation to Division 2, though in hindsight it's clear they were far too inconsistent. "We were a lot happier with the four quarters last weekend," he said. "Yes, there are a lot of areas we need to improve, that won't be good enough in two weeks' time, but I think in terms of consistency, kicking 1-24, scoring in each quarter, that was something we failed to do in the league this year."
The Leinster Council has pencilled in Dublin's semi-final against Meath as the lead act in a Croke Park double bill. Kildare and Westmeath will meet in the earlier semi-final.
"We have no control over where the fixtures are played, we are just thankful to be through to the next round," said Costello.
Meanwhile, former Dublin ladies captain Sinead Aherne has confirmed she's likely to miss Saturday's glamour Leinster SFC clash with All-Ireland holders Meath at Parnell Park. The four-time All-Ireland winning skipper withdrew from the team for last weekend's demolition of Westmeath due to a hamstring strain.
"It was just unfortunate, it was literally in the last few minutes of training on Thursday that I was kind of extending myself and I got a little clip so I kind of over extended the hamstring but it's nothing too serious," said Aherne.
"Rehab is going okay but it is probably a quick turnaround in a week so I will probably play the game after, I would say."
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