Paddy Andrews is confident that James McCarthy will be available for Dublin's All-Ireland SFC quarter-final on August 6th.

The Leinster champions will lock horns with either Cork, Donegal or Mayo at Croke Park and there were suggestions this week that key defender McCarthy would definitely be absent due to knee ligament damage. However, Andrews says the injury isn't serious:

"Look, James is a real quality player, the form he has been in throughout this season especially, and even last season, he is a real leader for us, he is a key player for us," the St Brigid's clubman told the Dublin GAA website.

"It's great that the injury is only a bit of a bang and we are hopeful he will be back for the next day in a couple of weeks' time.

"It wasn't as bad as was initially feared, or anything like that, which was great, because having lost Jack (McCaffrey) and Rory (O'Carroll), you don't want to lose quality players as much as any of the other teams.

"We are hoping to have James back the next day because he is a key player for us.

"Whoever we come across the next day is going to be a step up from what we've faced so far in the Championship. We've got to improve because what we've done so far won't be good enough for the rest of the season."

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