Rory O’Carroll returned to Dublin training last night when he attended a gym session with his team-mates.
O’Carroll hasn’t kicked a ball for the Dubs since the 2015 All-Ireland final win over Kerry, after which he moved to New Zealand.
He returned to the country earlier this year and has performed well for his club Kilmacud Crokes, who sit top of Dublin Senior Football Championship Group 1 with two wins from two, beating Ballymun Kickhams and Na Fianna to all-but assure themselves of a spot in the quarter-finals.
It is expected that he will resume full training when the Boys in Blue are back out on the pitch later this week.
Dublin struggled under the high ball in to the edge of their square during an unusually underwhelming Division 1 Allianz League campaign.
They lost three games in a single season for the first time under Jim Gavin and they failed to make the League final for the first time since 2012.
Two-time All Star O’Carroll offers a strong presence in the number three jersey and the 29-year-old has just under four weeks to push his way into the starting team for the Leinster quarter-final against Wexford or Louth on 25 May.
He is a favourite of Gavin’s, having won an All-Ireland Under-21 medal under his management in 2010 – 12 months after he won an All-Ireland club title with Crokes.
O’Carroll won his first Sam Maguire under Pat Gilroy the following year and added further Celtic Cross medals in 2013 and ’15, missing out on the past three years.
The Dubs are going for an unprecedented five in a row this year, which, if they achieve it, would be their sixth All-Ireland under Gavin and their seventh in nine seasons.
They lifted Sam last year with little fuss, though if this year’s League campaign is anything to go by, they will be under more pressure to retain the silverware in September.
This move has been expected for some time, so it doesn't come as a massive surprise.
When he returned to Kilmacud the talented hurler trained with club manager Anthony Daly's small ball men and played a league game.
But Daly later confirmed that he had stepped away from the hurlers to concentrate on football, which was a further strong indication that a call-up from Gavin was on the cards.
