James McCarthy’s return to training is a significant fillip for Dublin ahead of their All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park on Saturday week.
The 26-year-old Ballymun Kickhams defender missed the Leinster final victory over Westmeath after picking up a contact injury to his quad in a training session and there were some reports at the time suggesting that he may have suffered a knee issue.
Speaking at an AIG Travel Insurance launch in Parnell Park, McCarthy’s team-mate and fellow defensive fulcrum, Philly McMahon said: “Well, as far as I know, he just had a dead quad. I saw him train there during the week and he is looking good.
“James is a massive player for us, both going forward and defensively, he is so fluid and relaxed on the ball, but again we are very lucky that we have such a strong squad and it’s very competitive.
Next in
“You look at Eric [Lowndes] coming in the last day and we also made a tactical change there with Ciarán [Kilkenny] dropping in. We have players there who can fill out the spots if lads are missing. We have nearly two players for every position anyway so as a player, we don’t look too much into it when someone is gone; it is who’s next in.”
Dublin won’t know their opponents until after the weekend’s 4B qualifiers at Croke Park. They cannot face Westmeath – Donegal can’t face Tyrone either – but their opponents on Saturday week will be a Division One side; Cork, Donegal or Mayo.
McMahon isn’t unduly worried about who their next opponents will be but fully appreciates the competition for places in the team having twice being taken off in matches. He elaborated: “The Kerry game, I was poor to be honest, made a couple of errors and was taken off; that’s what happens.
“Against Laois I am not too sure why I was taken off. I was having an all-right game. We were ahead a good bit so maybe there was a decision to take me off. . . I’m there to do a job and I try and do that as best I can each game.”
“It is a little bit different to the way I played last year. There are a lot more teams doing their homework on me going forward and being that threat from defence.”
He spoke of being picked up by Kerry’s Paul Murphy when he ranged forward in the league final even though McMahon was marking Colm Cooper.
“That was obviously something they looked at from the All-Ireland final last year and said ‘if their corner-backs are attacking, do we have somebody in our forwards that can defend?’ It’s another challenge for us to kind of switch it up and see what we can do to counteract that.”
He said he hadn’t tailored his game specifically to accommodate the absence of Rory O’Carroll and Jack McCaffrey from the team this year. “In terms of my preparations, it’s to go out and win the individual battle with whoever I’m marking and obviously then support the rest of the lads around me so that doesn’t change.
“Every game it’s the same thing whether Rory or Jack is there or not. Winning the All-Ireland last year, there’s a target on your back no matter what so I have to look at different areas where I can make my game a little bit better.”
