The absence of Diarmuid Connolly haunted last year's championship, and the lead-in to the 2018 edition has been dominated with a similar storyline.
Jim Gavin confirmed at the launch of the Leinster Championship this week that Connolly has been unavailable for Dublin and Vincent's in recent weeks, and will remain so for the forseeable future.
The situation is that Diarmuid just hasn't been available to play football and hurling with his club, and with the county as well," the manager said.
We respect that position, and hopefully everyone does as well. It is an amateur sport, but that said, the door will always be open for Diarmuid, and I know for sure with the club and also the county. Hopefully, we'll see him back playing Gaelic games soon.
I just hope we've a duty of care within the Association, for anyone who volunteers their time. It is an amateur sport, be it managers we have here today, that you respect them, and from a player perspective as well, and I hope people understand that.
Connolly, who rarely misses a chance to tog out for Vincent's, has been absent for the last few weeks. Last month, Connolly was named to start against Skerries for Vincent's in the Dublin championship, but ultimately didn't make an appearance.
The Irish Independent report today, however, that Connolly has furtively started his comeback: he was a second-half substitute for Vincent's in a league hurling game against Craobh Chiaráin. Per the Indo, Connolly played the final quarter of the game at wing-forward.
