Mick Galvin insists that Rory O’Carroll, Cian O’Sullivan and Kevin McManamon remain part of Dublin’s plans.
None of the long-serving thirtysomething trio have made a matchday panel so far this year and while McManamon made a single appearance off the bench in last year’s Championship, O’Carroll and O’Sullivan saw no game time whatsoever.
Stand-in boss Galvin said: “They’re working away. Working against Father Time as well!
“But working away and hoping to make an impression so, yeah, we’re happy to have them there and hopefully form turns around for these guys and you might see them later on in the year.”
Galvin also reported that John Small, who suffered a hamstring injury in the draw with Kerry earlier this month, will be fit for Dublin’s Leinster quarter-final against Wicklow or Wexford on July 4, by which time manager Dessie Farrell will have completed his 12-week ban for breaching the Covid-19 training ban.
“Hopefully Dean is back now maybe for the Donegal match in two weeks. John Small will take a little bit longer, but I think that’s where we’re at at the moment with injuries.
“Our medical people tell us that it is what it is, but it’s not something that will keep him out of Leinster so we’d be hoping to have him back for the first round of Leinster.”
Meanwhile, the luckless Damien Comer faces yet another fitness race for Galway’s Championship opener against Roscommon, also on July 4, after sustaining a thumb injury against the Rossies last weekend.
Galway manager Padraic Joyce explained: “He’s one of our better players so he’s a huge injury blow and he’s going to be four weeks probably, three or four weeks, maybe five weeks.
“He did his thumb last Sunday against Roscommon. He played on with it in the second half but he’s taken the tendon off the bone so he’s in a bit of bother with it in fairness and he’s in a race for time before the Championship.
“This is his third year in-a-row [being injured] so he needs some sort of break but at least it’s not a muscle injury, he might be able to do some conditioning work with.
“If he comes back in time, he just needs the ball and the skills to go with it whereas before he’s had leg injuries which stopped him training.”
Jack Glynn presented Joyce with another injury headache in the four-point loss to Dublin as he had to be replaced in the third quarter.
“He hyper-extended his elbow there and he’ll get a scan and we’ll see how that goes, we don’t know, but it doesn’t look good,” Joyce added.
