Rory O’Carroll unlikely to return next year

Dublin are unlikely have to defender Rory O'Carroll back on board for the 2017 championship, according to his Dublin and Kilmacud Crokes team mate Paul Mannion.

O’Carroll opted out for 2016, along with Jack McCaffrey, and while McCaffrey is intent on rejoining for the new season, Mannion understands that O’Carroll will be a longer term absentee.

“As far as I understand, he won’t be back,” says Mannion. “He only arrived in New Zealand a few weeks back. He’s looking to get a job there now and he’s got his girlfriend there so he seems happy out. I don’t expect him to be back next year. We’d love to have him back and we all wish him well but he’s happy so that’s the most important thing.”

With McCaffrey, who hasn’t played for Dublin since the 2015 All-Ireland final, the resumption should be smooth: “I don’t think it will be massively different,” says Mannion, who took a year out in 2015.

“I think he’ll come back and as long as he trains hard he’ll fit in fine, it won’t be any trouble to him. Maybe we have a few different parts of the game that we added this year and different things, but I don’t expect it to be any struggle for him. Maybe fitness wise at the start, like I did, but I was talking to him a few weeks ago and he claims he’s in the best shape of his life, so I beg to differ.”