Bernard Brogan will be in the Dublin squad for the replay

BERNARD BROGAN is set to take his place on the Dublin bench for tomorrow's All-Ireland SFC final replay at Croke Park.

In a dramatic change of fortunes for the 2010 Footballer of the Year, Independent.ie understands that Brogan is primed to be included in Jim Gavin's match-day squad against Kerry.

The 35-year-old forward failed to make the ‘26' either for Dublin's All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo or drawn decider against Kerry 12 days ago.

He had featured as a sub in the champions' previous outing, the dead-rubber Super 8s clash with Tyrone, when he came off the Omagh bench after 44 minutes and scored a point in a lively cameo.

However, that was Brogan's only appearance this summer. And his only previous outing this season came as a 65th minute sub in another dead-rubber – Dublin's concluding Allianz League match in Cavan back in March.

The six-time All-Ireland winner has been a peripheral squad figure since battling back from the second cruciate ligament injury of his career, suffered in February 2018.

He defied the usual recovery time-frame for major knee surgery to appear as a late blood sub during Dublin's final Super 8s fixture against Roscommon in August of last year.

However, he was a notable omission from the squad when Gavin's team completed the All-Ireland four-in-a-row against Tyrone the following month.

In an interview back in late May, soon after Dublin's Leinster SFC opener against Louth in which he again failed to make the match-day panel, Brogan spoke at length about why he had returned this season.

"Last year, the way it went, I could have easily retired," the St Oliver Plunkett's clubman admitted.

"I could have gone off and I would have been fine, and no one would have questioned you. For me, it's a very personal journey now and trying to see can I get back up to the level, to add value.

"Obviously I've had a lot of chats with Jim about it, a lot of chats with management, about where's my value? Do you still believe that I can offer something to the group?

"And the answer was ‘yes', and that was my motivation to go again. I still believe that I have the skilled football and the guile and bit of experience, that I can add something different to the group that's there.

"If I didn't think that, I would have retired or Jim would have said, ‘Do you know what, we don't need you any more, we've enough there.'"

Now, however belatedly, it seems that Brogan might have a chance to sign off his decorated career with a potential on-field involvement in Dublin's quest for five-in-a-row history.

Online Editors