Dessie Farrell drafts sixteen new players into Dublin panel for National League

Dublin manager Dessie Farrell also confirms David Byrne is back on the panel.

Dessie Farrell says he's drafted 16 new players into his Dublin panel for the upcoming National League campaign.

The 2023 All-Ireland winners and 2024 league finalists will begin their latest Division 1 campaign on Saturday night against Mayo at Croke Park.

With James McCarthy and Brian Fenton choosing to retire, Farrell has significant gaps to fill in midfield in particular, while veteran defender Michael Fitzsimons declined to discuss his own county future after last weekend's All-Ireland club final win for Cuala.

There has been no confirmation of 43-year-old goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton's plans either with Farrell not mentioning any of his elder performers in a six-minute interview with Dublin GAA this evening.

"We've gone through a fairly extensive trialling process for club players over the last couple of months," said Farrell. "We got a development squad up and running then to allow players additional time for further assessment and obviously then we made decisions around who we are bringing into this year's panel.

"We have 16 new players in total so it's an interesting time for them. It's great to see new faces and plenty of energy around the place as well. There's some exciting prospects and we hope to use the league campaign this year to give them plenty of exposure and experience and to build towards the Championship."

Farrell confirmed that defender David Byrne is back on the panel after a year out while former hurling full-back Eoghan O'Donnell has switched to the footballers for the second time in his career.

"It's great to have those two lads, plenty of experience there and they're obviously very experienced and dedicated and know what it's about at this level," said Farrell. "We have James Madden of course from the AFL who has joined us this year. He's moved back home. Again, it's a very different sport for him and he's taking his time to get used to it but he's enjoying his time and we're enjoying working with him."

On the new rules, Farrell said the GAA has been 'bold and brave' by trying to introduce so many changes at the one time.

"I'm all for it, I have to say," said the 2020 and 2023 All-Ireland winning manager. "Our players are definitely enjoying it. It's still very much a learning process. We don't have that much data to go on, a couple of challenge games, but they're still slightly different to real competition."