Dublin manager Jim Gavin will, in all likelihood, unveil his starting team for this weekend’s All-Ireland final replay with Mayo on Friday evening.
Under Gavin it has become a tradition for the Dubs to name their side on the Friday of the game and there seems little reason for him to break from this.
Normally, given the embarrassment of riches at his disposal, the question would be which of his forwards he would leave out.
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The likes of Diarmuid Connolly, Bernard Brogan, Ciaran Kilkenny and Paul Flynn have been virtually ever-present on his watch.
This left Kevin McManamon, Dean Rock, Paddy Andrews, Cormac Costello, Paul Mannion and Eoghan O’Gara scrapping it out in high-intensity, in-house training games for the other spots up front.
This time out though, a slightly different proposition faces Gavin - which of his forwards to include.
In the drawn All-Ireland final, Dublin’s usually razor-sharp forwards completely lacked a cutting edge. They didn’t register a single score until after half-an-hour of play, their two goals up to that stage having been scored by hapless Mayo defenders.
They didn’t score a point from play until 33 minutes, by substitute Paddy Andrews, and it was a full 51 minutes in before Dean Rock slotted over a point from play - their first from a starting forward.
Over the nearly 80 minutes played last Sunday week, they hit just six of 22 efforts from open play as a team. Rock and Connolly contributed a point apiece from play, with the rest coming from the bench, further out the field or off Mayo legs.
Obviously, some of this was down to the incredible pressure exerted by Mayo in the punishing 2-09 to 0-15 draw and the wet, slippery conditions, which made retaining possession and shooting difficult.
But, given the way that some of his normally influential scorers struggled, Gavin must surely be thinking of changing things up.
Brogan scored 6-21 as the Dubs won Sam Maguire last year and all bar a point of that came from play.
This season he has managed just 1-09 and didn’t look like troubling the scoreboard operators in the drawn game. Connolly was influential further out the field, though his efforts were largely consumed by his intriguing personal battle with Lee Keegan.
Ciaran Kilkenny spent much of his time taking the ball off his defenders and linking the play, while Rock had a nightmare day after such a positive season. Kevin McManamon lasted just 46 minutes of his first All-Ireland start and Paul Flynn, apparently hampered by a groin injury, had his quietest day in blue in some time.
Andrews came off the bench and scored 0-02 while confusion gripped Mayo over who was marking him, but once they got on top of the situation he was well marshalled. Paul Mannion ran hard in his 30 minutes on the field, but didn’t manage a shot on target, while O’Gara didn’t have much time to make his mark.
Connolly and Kilkenny will start the replay, there’s no doubt about that, and it’s unlikely that Rock will be dropped given his free-taking ability and how good he was this season up to September 18.
Flynn doesn’t contribute scores in the way that he used to and that’s partly because he’s being used in a more withdrawn position, closer to his own midfield. The lack of a like-for-like replacement means he too should get the nod for the October 1 rematch at Croke Park.
This leaves question marks hanging over McManamon and Brogan - the 2010 Footballer of the Year and consistently Dublin’s highest scorer in previous seasons.
Given McManamon’s record as an impact sub and his history of doing the business off the bench in All-Ireland finals, he is easier to drop for Gavin if he’s looking to shake things up and in Andrews he has a hard-running replacement that can kick off either foot.
Dropping Brogan would be a huge call given how central he has been to each of Dublin’s three Sam Maguire wins since 2011. His form this summer means he’s no longer an untouchable, but leaving him out isn’t easy.
He has been the Boys in Blues’ main attacking threat since 2010 and is one of the greatest forwards of his generation. Then there’s the matter of who’d take his place - Mannion, Costello or O’Gara?
It’s an issue Gavin, known as one of football’s deep thinkers, will be giving a lot of consideration to in the coming days.
Watch live coverage of Dublin v Mayo on The Saturday Game on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player from 1600 and follow our live blog on RTE.ie. Live radio coverage on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 and highlights on The Saturday Game on RTÉ2 from 2200.
