Dublin's Kevin McManamon hasn’t given up hope of playing with US-bound Diarmuid Connolly again.
The St Vincent's man hasn’t featured for Dublin since February of last year.
And he passed up on the opportunity to rejoin the panel ahead of the Championship, with news emerging that he is to spend a second successive summer in Boston having played for the Donegal club out there last year.
Connolly turns 32 shortly, though former teammate McManamon doesn’t rule out the prospect of him coming back on board in 2020.
He said: “Dermo, everyone knows how good he is, he’s a big leader, a big guy in the dressing room for us. We did miss him.
“He’s always going to be part of our team, he’s always going to be a big part of the group.
“I’d love to play with him again but by the sounds of things it mightn’t happen this year but I’d love to play with him again, he’s a guy I admire a lot.”
McManamon also reacted to the “excellent” news that James McCarthy’s knee injury sustained in Sunday’s Leinster final win over Meath isn’t as serious as first feared.
McCarthy is believed to have undergone surgery on a cartilage problem in Santry Sports Clinic on Tuesday which means he’ll be sidelined for around four weeks and is likely to miss at least one of Dublin’s ‘Super 8s’ games, albeit he’ll be fit for the business end of the Championship.
McManamon added: “He’s a big man for us. It’d be tough if we miss him for a game or two or three, whatever it is, so great to hear that he’s in good nick.”
