Clancy: No transition, Dublin still serious contenders

Dublin defender Theo Clancy is adamant the Dublin footballers are not in a period of transition

Pictured at the launch of the Electric Ireland GAA Higher Education Championships is UCD’s Theo Clancy. This season, through its #FirstClassRivals campaign, Electric Ireland will spotlight players from across the Championships in the Electric Ireland ‘Player POV’ series and continue to celebrate the unique alliances that form between county rivals as they come together in pursuit of some of the most coveted titles across GAA.

New Dublin manager Ger Brennan will stick with his rookie development squad for tomorrow's O'Byrne Cup semi-final against Kildare.

Brennan brought an inexperienced 26-man panel to Ratheniska last weekend for their Round 1 win over Laois.

Niall O'Callaghan, who captained the team and struck 1-6, was the only player from last year's squad to feature.

For goalscorer Robert Shaw it was his fourth O'Byrne Cup campaign while Páidí White, Josh Bannon, Conor Dolan and Liam Smith had also previously sampled the January competition.

Of the other 20 on the matchday panel, 11 made their competitive debuts as starters and nine more came on.

Defender Eoghan O'Callaghan, brother of Niall and Dubs star Con, is among the new group, as is Dubs great Niall Guiden's son, Sean, in attack.

Regular Dublin defender Theo Clancy said he won't feature in Newbridge tomorrow as Brennan continues to 'look at as many players as possible'.

"It's largely the same lads that are going again this week, the same opportunity again," said Clancy, who was speaking at the launch of the Electric Ireland Higher Education Championships. "It was a good win down in Laois the last day. It's Kildare now so that will be a tougher test again for the lads. We're playing challenge games and internal games at the weekends. So we're getting our work in as well behind the scenes."

Brennan said the new management identified over 130 players who either stood out for their clubs or impressed during a regional tournament in November.

The St Vincent's man's plan is to carry forward a number of the rookies for National League duty.

John Small and Stephen Cluxton have left from last year's main squad while Davy Keogh has returned to the hurling panel.

But Kilmacud Crokes man Clancy said there have been no other retirements and maintained that they will still be targeting silverware in 2026.

"That has to be the mindset," said Clancy. "Talking about a transition period is fine but I still think we have the players. We'll go out with the mindset that we are serious contenders. That has to be the mindset for the year."

Clancy started Dublin's first 12 League and Championship games in 2025 before missing the Cork game in the Championship with a knee injury. He came on in the All-Ireland quarter-final loss to Tyrone.

Ex-Louth boss Brennan has since replaced Dessie Farrell and Clancy, competing in the Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup for UCD, said the early vibes are positive.

"Him and his coaching team have brought new ideas, simplicity, clarity and great styles of play," said the 2023 All-Ireland club winner with Crokes. "I'd have known Ger through his work at UCD beforehand anyway so I get on well with Ger. He's great to have in charge. It's just a clean slate. They've brought in loads of new ideas and we're just going to trial them now in our pre-season games and our training and try to get a solid game plan going into the League."