Pat Gilroy has admitted that leaving Barry Cahill out of his team to face Cork was a tough call.

The experienced St. Brigid's clubman has lost his place to last year's under 21 captain Cian O'Sullivan, who makes his first start since tearing his hamstring in the opening minutes of his full championship debut against Wexford on June 13.

"It was a very difficult team for us to pick," the Dublin boss said.

"Over the last three weeks, lads have been really pushing hard for places, but I suppose we felt that a lot of guys deserved another chance. Barry is very unlucky to lose out as well. He has been playing well and it was a very marginal call to leave him out of the game."

Gilroy is expecting a stern test for a Cork side who many believe haven't played to their potential yet in this year's championship.

"They have had so many matches where they were really dominant for short periods and then they let teams back at them a little bit but they have been very impressive in patches.

"You only have to look at the Cavan match where they were totally dominant. At times against Limerick they were really good and they got into a dominant position and they let it slip.

"Cork are a very strong team and the only team to beat them in the championship over the last few years is Kerry. There is a big game in Cork, for sure," he added. Tweet

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