Feels unlikely, in fairness. Dessie was no stranger to a bit of hangdog humour here and there \u2013 neither, for that matter, is his successor. But they\u2019d both rail against the idea that Dublin are suddenly short of the required talent to compete. If you allow transition talk to hang around long enough, it starts to sound like surrender.<\/p>\n
Maybe that, as much as anything, was behind Brennan\u2019s press conference performance after the recent defeat to Mayo<\/a>. Once he started talking publicly about cutting experienced players, he was essentially sending out two messages, separate but not unconnected. One, things have become too comfortable among the Dublin playing staff. And two, he reckons there\u2019s no shortage of candidates to upend that comfort. <\/p>\n \u201cI think he was mostly doing what any good manager would try to do,\u201d says Paul Flynn, one of the slew of ex-Dublin players Brennan got in to manage a team when he ran trials over the winter. \u201cPeople forget that Pat Gilroy did more or less the same thing when he took over from Pillar Caffrey. Ger isn\u2019t the same guy as Giller but they\u2019re the same club and he\u2019d be built a similar way. If there\u2019s a cultural change needed, it won\u2019t cost him a thought.\u201d<\/p>\n That change of some sort is needed isn\u2019t really up for debate. Dublin have gone out before the semi-final time in both of the past two All-Irelands, having not missed one since 2009. They\u2019ve come away from the All Stars empty handed for the past two years in a row as well \u2013 you have to go as far back as 2004\/\u201905 for the last time that happened. One lost year can happen to any team. Two of them back-to-back means it\u2019s time for a new broom.<\/p>\n Where to start sweeping is the question. Brennan didn\u2019t specifically say Dublin\u2019s cohort of All-Ireland winners was in the firing line but he didn\u2019t fall far short of doing so. It felt significant that when asked about hunger, the Dublin manager cited Aidan O\u2019Shea\u2019s lack of a Celtic Cross and wondered would he still be on the go if Mayo<\/a> had won one. Clearly, past performance is not being taken as a guarantee of future returns.<\/p>\n ‘I would suggest that it’s some of our fellas who have been around the block… there’ll be a few tough decisions to be made…’<\/p>\n ‘It’s probably decision time for a couple of guys, in terms of what they want to do…’@DubGAAOfficial<\/a> boss Ger Brennan indicates some serious\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/oYsHaSOmTX<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Off The Ball (@offtheball) February 1, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, the 26-man squad Brennan brought to Castlebar contained 11 of the 2023 All-Ireland final panel, plus Sean Bugler from the 2020 team. That\u2019s without counting the likes of Colm Basquel, Lee Gannon, Tom Lahiff, Cian Murphy and Ross McGarry, all of whom have All-Ireland medals too. Throw it all in the mix and Brennan has 17 All-Ireland winners in the running for a place in his squad.<\/p>\n Of those, he\u2019s obviously not talking about getting rid of Con O\u2019Callaghan or Ciar\u00e1n Kilkenny. You\u2019d imagine the likes of Bugler, Basquel, Gannon, Eoin Murchan, Se\u00e1n MacMahon and Paddy Small are probably on the safer end of the axeman\u2019s blade too. After that though? It\u2019s hard to know.<\/p>\n You\u2019d have presumed someone like Brian Howard was above reproach but Brennan hauled him off against Mayo after half an hour. When he spoke afterwards about \u201csome of our fellas who\u2019ve been around the block\u201d, does he mean the likes of Niall Scully or Davy Byrne or Cormac Costello? Is he really going to pull the curtain down on long careers like theirs during a two-week break in the league? And if he does, then who is really safe?<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what Ger is like,\u201d says Paddy Andrews. \u201cHe\u2019s affable and sound and absolutely ruthless. I\u2019d say he\u2019s happy that after what he said in Castlebar, every single player in the group is looking over his shoulder and wondering, \u2018Is he talking about me?\u2019. That\u2019s long overdue. <\/p>\n \u201cThe thing with Ger is that even though he\u2019s steeped in Dublin football, he\u2019s almost an outsider in a way. Jim [Gavin] and Dessie both came through the underage system and were working with lads they\u2019d known since they were teenagers. But Ger came through a different way and other than maybe a few of them who went to UCD<\/a>, none of them have any currency with him. Nobody has anything in the bank. So they all have to prove themselves from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n Clearing out the cupboards brings its own issues, of course, chief among them the fact that the restocking options aren\u2019t all that obvious. The assumption that the Dublin machine is built to spit out bespoke intercounty players by the dozen has been routinely undercut since the start of the decade, as they\u2019ve tumbled down the underage pecking order.<\/p>\n Their last under-21 All-Ireland was in 2017. Their last Leinster under-20 title was in 2020. Louth<\/a>, Meath<\/a> and Kildare<\/a> are all buoyant at that age-grade, whereas Dublin haven\u2019t so much as made a provincial final since 2023. At minor level, they won back-to-back Leinster titles in 2022 and 2023 but they haven\u2019t been to an All-Ireland final since winning in 2012. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no secret sauce to this,\u201d says Andrews. \u201cLook around every All-Ireland winning county and there\u2019s usually a top-class minor or under-20 team somewhere back the years that has fed into it. That\u2019s definitely the case in Dublin. We have always needed that. <\/p>\n \u201cThe 2003 under-21 team had Alan Brogan and Bryan Cullen and that fed into Pat Gilroy\u2019s team. The 2009 and 2010 teams had Jonny Cooper and Dean Rock and Cian O\u2019Sullivan, and they fed into Jim\u2019s initial team. The 2012 and 2014 teams were a freak \u2013 Jack McCaffrey, Ciar\u00e1n Kilkenny, Paul Mannion, Brian Fenton and all the rest of them. Ger doesn\u2019t have anything like that coming through.\u201d<\/p>\n Somewhere along the way, the production line got gummed up. It wasn\u2019t just that the underage teams weren\u2019t successful, it was that they stopped unearthing diamonds. As the great Dublin team aged out, their replacements rarely caught the eye. The days of young Dublin players exploding onto the scene ready to be match-winners has gone. <\/p>\n On this, the numbers are indisputable. If we take the past five seasons of the senior team in isolation, the age profile of the best Dublin players is startlingly high. Dublin players have won seven All Stars since 2021 \u2013 their average age has been 32.14. The youngest Dublin player to win an All Star in that time was Basquel, who was 27 when he won his in 2023. The Dubs have had 27 All Star nominations in the past five years \u2013 only four of them went to players who were under 25.<\/p>\n Between 2011 and 2018, Dublin players James McCarthy, Jack McCaffrey, Paul Mannion, Con O\u2019Callaghan and Brian Howard were all shortlisted for Young Footballer of the Year. The first three are retired, O\u2019Callaghan turns 30 in April and Howard will be 29 this year. In the past seven seasons, Dublin have had just one player shortlisted for the award \u2013 Lee Gannon in 2022. <\/p>\n \u201cDublin took their eye off the ball with the underage structures in the good times,\u201d says Flynn. \u201cThey didn\u2019t replenish the pot. I think they\u2019ve recognised that and they\u2019ve gone back to the start with it again. I think bringing in Jonny Cooper and Michael Darragh Macauley to take charge of the 20s is a good move. I\u2019m glad to see they have Mick Bohan in working with the development squads. They\u2019re taking action there.<\/p>\n \u201cThe trial games over the winter were a good exercise. Every club was asked to send players forward that they thought would be of a good enough standard. I took one of the teams along with Michael Darragh and Alan Brogan. There were four squads of 30 players or so and from that he\u2019s unearthed a few players, like Jack Lundy and so on. <\/p>\n \u201cBut they\u2019ll take time. They\u2019re not ready to go. People always forget that in the main, there\u2019s a massive gap between club and county. There are some examples of people who can just do it but the majority of people take time to adapt. If you\u2019re asking me, \u2018If Ger is to cut four All-Ireland winners from the squad, is there another four to replace them?\u2019, my answer would be, \u2018Not yet, no\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Brian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4R4EB5T4VNEFDFMNRSMSMLJADM.jpg\")
Brian Howard during Dublin’s Division 1 match against Donegal at Croke Park last month. The multiple All-Ireland winner was hauled ashore by manager Ger Brennan after half an hour of Dublin’s next match against Mayo. Photograph: Tom Maher\/Inpho <\/p>\n![\"Colm](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ZEILHPUZJ5EBFH2BKJU5WZKFZQ.jpg\")
Colm Basquel scores a goal for Dublin in the 2023 Leinster Senior Football Championship final victory against Louth at Croke Park. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n