Dillon is Mayo’s big injury doubt

Daniel Carey

ALAN Dillon has emerged as Mayo’s main injury doubt ahead of the All-Ireland final replay.
It will 'probably be the middle of next week' before Stephen Rochford (pictured above) knows whether the veteran Ballintubber man is available for selection, the Mayo manager told members of the press at an event in Breaffy House Hotel, Castlebar tonight (Tuesday).
Dillon scored a point during his ten minutes on the field in Sunday’sdrawn final, but suffered bruising to the front of his foot after a collision with Cian O’Sullivan.
“He has had an x-ray and a scan,” said Rochford. “It is just a case of can he move on it next week, that is the concern. He had signalled to come off just before he kicked the point. Thankfully he was able to manage through for that minute or two ... He is the only one there is potentially any doubt about.”
Both Cillian O’Connor and Evan Regan are expected to be fit for selection. O’Connor, who scored the equalising point, twisted his ankle in the second half. The captain “woke up on Mondaywith a little bit of pain and a little bit of swelling”, Rochford revealed, but there are “no concerns” about his availability.
Regan, who came on as a substitute before being replaced late on, will “follow the concussion protocols” after suffering a head injury following a collision with Dublin’s Denis Bastick.
Meanwhile, Rochford rubbished rumours that former Donegal manager Jim McGuinness had addressed the Mayo players at a training camp in Limerick, saying he had “huge regard” for what McGuinness had achieved but had “never spoken to ... or met” the man.
“If somebody wants to say the Pope is training us next week, so be it!” he added. “It won’t distract us from what the task is on Saturdayweek.”
The Crossmolina man struck a similar note on Joe Brolly’s description of Mayo as ‘celebrity losers’, saying: “I don’t think it’s necessarily fair language, but that’s a choice for that ... pundit to make. It certainly didn’t keep me awake.”
With the GAA’s Competitions Control Committee probing the incidents which preceded Sunday’sdraw, Rochford reiterated that it was “totally coincidental” that Dublin and Mayo had entered the field of play at virtually the same time.
“There was no [case of] ‘Dublin are coming here, let’s get out’ [or] ‘Dublin aren’t here, let’s wait for them’,” he added. “There is a lot more to be dealing with and focused on ... I know we got a direction to be second out onto the field. With us being a minute or two late I don’t know why Dublin were four or five minutes late. That is probably a question Dublin need to answer.”