What does benching Diarmuid Connolly say about Jim Gavin?

For all the criticism Jim Gavin receives, nobody can question his managerial ability.

The Round Towers Clondalkin man has won three All-Ireland titles in four years and in such a short space of time has already surpassed Kevin Heffernan as the greatest Dublin manager of all time. He’s done this by keeping everyone guessing, creating a system that is difficult to come up with a winning formula against, and keeping his squad motivated despite having achieved everything there is to achieve. For any Rick and Morty fans out there (spoiler alert on the latest episode), Evil Morty returns to the show, he has runs as President and puts on the façade of this nice guy that wants the best for everyone but behind the scenes he is ruthless, culling people that don’t suit his way of thinking. Jim Gavin is the same in a less severe manner. He drops players as he pleases and reputations mean absolutely nothing in his eyes - it’s all about who he believes will perform best on the day. Paul Flynn would never be dropped in any other county, neither would Bernard Brogan, and no team would ever dare to think of not playing Diarmuid Connolly, one of the best players of the generation. Jim McGuinness, the last manager to beat Dublin in the All-Ireland series, wrote a brilliant column in the Irish Times where he gave his take on Diarmuid Connolly:

"I don’t believe there is another county in Ireland where the best player in the country, basically, is sitting there available for the first time all summer and you decline the option to give him a run before the biggest game of the year. It’s all about Jim Gavin’s thought processes," McGuinness wrote. "I think the reason he didn’t play Diarmuid was to make a statement of where Dublin are at and about the belief that is within that group."

From the outside looking in, you think the number one priority is having your best 15 players, your best side starting against Mayo but then why chop and change something that has been working all year? Why risk throwing in someone that hasn’t played in most of the championship this year and play him in the biggest game of the season? That must be the logic if Jim Gavin decides not to start the St. Vincent’s man. On the latest episode of The GAA Hour, former footballer of the year Steven McDonnell gave his thoughts on Jim Gavin’s thinking ahead of Sunday:

"It may have been Alan Brogan, I’m not too sure, but he believed at the time that Jim (Gavin) only kept Diarmuid (Connolly) on for the last few minutes and didn’t put on Bernard Brogan at all simply because he wanted those two players, in particular, to fight it out over the next couple of weeks to gain their place for the All-Ireland final. "There could be a starting spot somewhere in the forward line available for one of them."

If this is Gavin’s master plan, it’s cute and clever. He’s trying to get more out of two players that look to have realised their potential and reached the pinnacle of the sport and get them in a frame of mind that it is do or die to get a starting place on Sunday, another way to motivate two men that have done it all. But then there’s the flip side of the coin that Jim Gavin is so invested in his own ego that dropping Connolly and coasting past Mayo would be two fingers to all the doubters and naysayers, a way to prove they are, yet again, the best in the land and nobody is close. As Colm Parkinson said on The GAA Hour:

"If Jim Gavin doesn’t start Diarmuid Connolly it’s arrogance of the highest order, it’s an ego trip, it’s ‘We can win an All-Ireland against a brilliant team like Mayo without this brilliant player.’ "It’s Jim Gavin losing the run of himself like he lost the run of himself before Donegal in 2014. He lost the run of himself buying into this unbelievable free flowing football that he preached that was handed down to him by other managers now he’s learned the hard way by Donegal. "That summer Dublin, after retaining the All-Ireland hammered Laois, hammered Wexford, hammered Meath hammered Monaghan. "(Dublin) came in against Donegal and thought the same thing would work again, arrogance, that was arrogance then and I think if Diarmuid Connolly, the best forward arguably in the country doesn’t start an All-Ireland final against a brilliant team like Mayo, who Dublin can barely get over with their best team…that is arrogance of the highest order."

Maybe it is arrogance, proving a point that doesn’t need to be proved but at the same time, the Dublin manager would be well aware of the consequences if it backfires. Gavin is not untouchable, he isn’t immune to criticism over selection choice and if, and that is a big if, Connolly doesn’t start and Dublin lose on Sunday he’ll be in the firing line. But if the two-time All Star doesn’t start and Dublin coast to a third successive Sam Maguire, Jim Gavin has proven himself to be the greatest GAA manager of all time without a doubt.