By Paul Keane

A quote from Heraclitus isn't the first place you'd expect Philly McMahon to go to to begin a chat about the Dublin footballers.

''You know the saying, 'No man steps in the same river twice'," says McMahon, borrowing from the Greek philosopher to explain the ever changing nature of the All-Ireland holders' panel.

McMahon is specifically speaking about how goalkeeper Evan Comerford has come in to replace the absent Stephen Cluxton this season though he could easily be talking about his own remarkable journey.

The 33-year-old - he turns 34 next month - has been on the panel for 13 years and what began with a simple bid to represent his county has morphed into something quite incredible.

If Dublin beat Mayo on Saturday, then defender McMahon will be just one more win away from a ninth All-Ireland senior medal which would place him among the most successful footballers ever.

'From being a young lad kicking the ball off the flats to winning an All-Ireland, to winning what I have, jeez, I'm grateful for what I have and I'd never take it for granted' said the Ballymun man.

'You have to remember, I made my debut in 2008, so I've been a part of the group through the whole transition of the struggles, getting the success, and going through different management teams and stuff like that.

'So I'm just grateful to be still involved in the group and still learning and still growing and still helping and still adding energy.'

With Cluxton and Kevin McManamon so far absent from Championship duty, McMahon, Michael Fitzsimons and James McCarthy are the three Dublin players chasing those record ninth wins. If they can do it, they would leapfrog the group of Kerry players who have eight medals.

McMahon hasn't started a Championship game in over two years, since lining out against Roscommon in July of 2019, but he's consistently making the bench and came on three times in this season's league.

When not playing, he sees his role as generally 'helping and adding energy' and his presence has no doubt helped Comerford to bed into his new role as the regular 'keeper.

Presuming that he starts against Mayo, it will be Comerford's seventh Championship appearance though, in all competitions, it will be his 25th start. A Sigerson Cup and Dublin SFC title winner in 2020, Comerford has also started two Leinster final wins for Dublin so is well beyond the rookie phase.

'You would have felt like (Cluxton) was nearly another full-back, Ev has that too, you feel comfortable with Ev when he's in goals,' said clubmate McMahon.

'And do you know what, it's credit to the goalkeeping coaches over the years, the management, the way they've developed our goalkeepers, not just Evan but Michael Shiel is there as well.

'Some people will say, 'Jeez, they are like carbon copies of Stephen'. It's the coaching style, that's the way they've done things over the years. We are able to have the quality in terms of the 'keepers we've had.'

Some may view the absence of Cluxton, who captained Dublin to the six-in-a-row, as a weakness though McMahon believes there's no evidence to make that claim.

'For me, I've played in front of Stephen for a long time and I've played in front of Evan Comerford for a long time,' he said.

'And you know, it's like the narrative of, do Dublin struggle under a high ball? And then, we don't. Or, will Dublin struggle without having Stephen Cluxton in goal? I haven't seen that from Evan.

'So you can get after those things, you can see them as opportunities. But it's certainly something we haven't seen.'

McMahon said he personally will be ready if called upon by manager Dessie Farrell this weekend.

'For me, if I'm employed for two minutes to do a job on a tall fella, a small fella, whatever it may be, that's what you've got to do for the greater cause,' he said.

'It could be two minutes at the end of the game. If that happens for me, I'll be there. If it doesn't, I'm hoping that whatever energy I've given to the group outside of that has been enough.'