Brian Barry
GAA Editor @BrianGBarry
Dublin's Con O'Callaghan and James McCarthy major injury doubts for All-Ireland semi-final
Dessie Farrell said Con O'Callaghan and James McCarthy are "in a race against time" to be fit for Dublin's All-Ireland semi-final in two weeks. The Sky Blues' manager also stated that they will need "a big, big improvement" for their next outing
Last Updated: 25/06/22 9:00pm
Dublin are sweating on the fitness of Con O'Callaghan and James McCarthy for their All-Ireland semi-final on Sunday, July 10.
The duo missed Saturday night's quarter-final win over Cork, and are "in a race against time" to be fit for the meeting with Kerry or Mayo in the last four.
"It's very disappointing for the lads themselves to miss out on today, and it had a huge impact on the team as well - captain and vice-captain and two rock-solid players," said Dubs manager Dessie Farrell.
"That was probably a factor in today's overall performance for sure and for the next day; it's part and parcel of the game at this level; injuries and you have to be resilient.
"There's a level of acceptance around them as well, so it's pretty much a race against time now, two weeks. To be picking up an injury now at this time of year is tough and we're all hands on deck in terms of our medical staff in terms of trying to get the lads right."
Farrell declined to clarify the nature of the injuries:
"I'd prefer not to say if that's ok, but we're working hard to get them right for the next day."
Meanwhile, the Na Fianna man handed a Dublin senior football debut to the county's hurling captain Eoghan O'Donnell, who was introduced from the bench.
O'Donnell was brought into the panel after the hurlers' elimination from the championship.
"Yeah, we're happy with him. Eoghan is a great competitor, a great warrior," Farrell said.
"It's a big ask of him to be able to transition from one to the other. They are very different games but obviously, he has a pedigree as a very good footballer with his club in Whitehall. I had him at development-squad level back in the day as well so, yeah, we've been impressed with him to date for sure.
"He's definitely an addition to the squad and it was great to see him get some game-time.
"He's been very well received by the lads as well."
'A major step-up required'
Dublin were far from their best, but ultimately had too much for the Rebels.
But Farrell knows they will need to improve for their next assignment in two weeks' time.
"It's just about the result, moving on, major step-up required," he said.
"The first half obviously wasn't what we would have wanted, we picked it up in the second half but probably the four-week lay-off didn't help. It took us a while to shake the cobwebs but we strung some good passages of play together in the second half and we were a little bit better.
"We knew Cork were going to dig in and obviously it's a proud county and great tradition down there. They didn't surprise us with anything they did, it was to be expected but we just couldn't get to the pace of it in the way we would have liked.
"Definitely they were causing us problems as well, they kicked a lot of wides themselves and we were happy enough to get to half-time and have a chat and move back out, and thankfully the second half was a little bit better.
"It's one of those we're happy to have got through it. You know I'd probably give it a six-and-a-half out of 10 performance from our perspective. And we know that there needs to be a big, big improvement for the next one."
