Former Meath captain Anthony Moyles was on Monday’s OTB AM and spoke about the return of Diarmuid Connolly to the Dublin panel.
Connolly’s inclusion in the panel was announced by Jim Gavin on Sunday in amusingly casual fashion and his return has got both pundits and the public talking.
“My only question mark would be the impact it has on the panel… the message that goes out to the rest of the panel from Jim Gavin and his team, including Anthony Moyles.
“I didn’t think this would be something that [Gavin] would go for. I thought he obviously would speak to him before the potential America trip and say ‘listen, you have a choice here. You either go there or you come back in with us and we’ll welcome you with open arms.’
“I don’t know if that conversation happened but I felt that would be the natural conversation that would happen,” Moyles commented.
While Moyles could see how including Connolly in the panel could have ruffled a few feathers in the Dublin camp, he was under no illusions as to how vital the St. Vincent’s man could be on the pitch.
Dublin have been lacking some impact off the bench in recent games, which is something that Connolly would definitely add to the team if introduced at a late stage.
“I’m not really seeing a massively fresh, new impact. And also a guy who can spray those balls, who can pass those balls from 50, 60 yards out in the line-up. Scully doesn’t really do it, Howard doesn’t really do it.
“So you know, you can imagine as a tired team with 20 minutes to go [Connolly] comes off the bench and he now has the ability to ping a ball from 40 or 50 metres onto a guy's chest,” Moyles said.
Is McCaffrey the best player in the country?
Moyles was particularly impressed with Jack McCaffrey's performance in Dublin’s 13-point win over Cork on Saturday evening.
The Clontarf man ran riot against the Rebels, who scored a goal and created plenty more scoring opportunities for his side.
“McCaffrey is just absolutely unbelievable at the moment. He’s scarily good. As an opposition team, you actually have to sacrifice someone. I would actually just have someone mark him. I would say, ‘Listen, don’t worry about getting the ball. Just don’t let him get it.’
“I’d say he’s close to being the top player in the country. He’s definitely in the top three and I probably can’t see anyone better than him,” Moyles said.
Dublin continue their championship campaign this Saturday when they take on Roscommon in Croke Park, with a win likely being enough to guarantee them a place in the All-Ireland semi-final.
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