Dessie Farrell admitted that Con O’Callaghan’s ‘leadership’ and ‘composure’ was sorely missed as Dublin slipped to a five-point defeat to Armagh.

The once-mighty Dubs were uncharacteristically wasteful and sloppy at Croke Park and now need to take something from their last Group 4 outing against Derry in a fortnight to stay in the Sam Maguire Cup race.

“When you're dealing with somebody like Con, it's definitely a loss. There's no denying that. There's no getting away from that. But that's the challenge we faced,” the Dublin manager said of his injured skipper.

“We faced it in 2022 when he missed the back end of the Championship and we came up short against Kerry in the semi-final.

“We were prepared for not having him on the pitch today, so it's not as if it was a bolt from the blue. But ultimately, I think we missed his leadership out there at different times.

“Obviously, he brings a level of composure and a level of calm that we struggled with at times today.

“We were sort of at odds with ourselves at different stages and to identify the reason for that is a challenge at this point in time. But perhaps missing Con is a contributing factor.”

Farrell added: “We were chasing them and that became too hard.

“Sometimes you can chase and get to grips with it and get yourself back into it. But one or two players that we needed something from – we needed a score or two from - they just never came and the gap was always too big.

"They were able to ride it out in the end.”

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