IF THE general consensus is that Dublin have yet to ignite in the defence of their All-Ireland football title, then the return of Alan Brogan for Sunday’s semi-final showdown against Mayo might just prove sufficient spark.

The reigning footballer of the year missed Dublin’s quarter-final win over Laois due to the groin injury sustained early in last month’s Leinster final win over Meath. But, according to manager Pat Gilroy, Brogan has been playing a full role in recent practice games, and looks all set to start in Croke Park on Sunday.

“He has played three internal games so far ,and there has been no reaction,” said Gilroy. “He did a lot of work before that, in terms of straight line running, so unless something happens this week he looks like he’ll be in good shape.

“We thought he was going to be alright for the last game, then it just seemed to come back worse than it had been. So it has just taken a bit more time. It’s only the middle of last week that he started playing the internal games but he’s been fine, there has been no reaction to it, so I’d be fairly confident that he will be available.

“But there are other lads who have been playing fairly well as well. You have got to take that into account. But the way we see it we have to have 20 anyway, because we generally use 20 guys, the way we want to play, it takes a lot out of lads. So we’re glad to have options.”

Brogan’s absence was certainly felt in the Laois game, as Dublin struggled to impose their usual attacking game: “He didn’t play in the inside line. and that’s where we missed most of our opportunities,” agreed Gilroy. “There was a lot of wasteful shooting in there, but the one thing that Alan does do when he is playing a bit further out is that he gets you that score.

“We just needed somebody to settle in the second half and get a score. We had an awful lot of possession and he probably would have got a couple of points and that’s the part we missed most.”

Gilroy will announce his team after training on Thursday evening, and with an otherwise injury-free summer, there could be some other close calls. Eoghan O’Gara replaced Brogan in the Leinster final, and started against Laois, and the four-week break since the quarter-final has afforded the Dublin manager the time to consider his options.

“We went away for a few days training to Kerry, too, and got a lot of work done and thought out a lot of things that we could do to improve things. Lads have been very committed to it and it has been enjoyable. I felt before the last game that there were signs things were going to go well for us, particularly up front.

“It just didn’t happen, but there have been a lot of positive things in the last couple of weeks that you would just say ‘yeah’.

“Those internal games are very competitive too, and there is nothing given, not an inch is given.

“Lads are starting to score in those games. If they are scoring in those games then it’s a good sign for us. But we have a massive challenge on Sunday, there is no question that if we play up front like we did the last day it won’t be good enough against Mayo.”

Two reference points to Sunday’s showdown are being wheeled out this week: Dublin’s semi-final collapse to Mayo in the 2006 All-Ireland semi-final, and their heavy league defeat in Castlebar earlier this year – and yet not surprisingly Gilroy is not getting hung up on history.

“That league game was a warning to us, that if our intensity is anything like that day, we will get wiped out of it here. We haven’t revisited that place in terms of intensity since, thank God, so I certainly don’t think it will be a match like that. But I think Mayo’s main real dominance the last day was in the middle of the field. If you are beaten at midfield you are under severe pressure so it will be a big ask for us to get that right and we have done a lot of work to try and deal with it.

“But 2006 hasn’t been mentioned. I barely remember the game myself. I was sitting in Croke Park as a spectator and it was a day that maybe Dublin threw it away. I think it shows as well Mayo don’t really fear Dublin at all.”