Quiet man Cluxton’s influence keenly felt
DANIEL FLYNN knew he had not hit the ball well. When a forward is free behind the Dublin defence and Stephen Cluxton is advancing off his line with the deadly concentration of a trapper, and with Hill 16 ranked behind him wishing ill-will on the opposition player, there can be no equivocation.
The Dublin defence is not breached so regularly that a chance to blaze the ball past Cluxton can be eschewed. Kildare were six points down, seven minutes had elapsed in the second half. This was Flynn’s opportunity to introduce doubt into a day that had not accommodated even the rumour of it up to then.
But the full forward tried to place his shot beyond Cluxton. The goalkeeper blocked it, the ball was worked back up the pitch and Con O’Callaghan kicked a point for Dublin shortly after, pushing their lead out to seven.
He would add another point two minutes later, followed quickly by a Bernard Brogan score, to leave the champions nine points clear and free of danger.
Dublin were champions. Their greatness was freshly franked. And Cluxton did what he has spent 16 years doing better than any goalkeeper before or since.
He made his 88th Championship appearance for the county yesterday. Only two other players in history have played that many times, Tomás and Marc Ó Sé. Important as that pair were to Kerry, their influence is no match for the role Cluxton has had on Dublin.
He is arguably the most important player in their history. This Dublin side has the right to be considered the greatest to ever represent the county, and Cluxton is the most powerful and enduring figure in the group.
The Parnells goalkeeper is a tremendous footballer and an inscrutable figure beyond the group. He has no interest in publicity, no time for sitting down with the press to share his story. He saves shots. He kicks the ball out more accurately than any keeper has ever done.
And, time and again, he wins. Cluxton is the only man to ever lift the Sam Maguire Cup three times as a captain. On the evidence laid before us by the summer of 2017 so far, he will do it a fourth time, too.
‘I think that’s the word, influence,’ said Jim Gavin afterwards. ‘That’s what good leadership is and that’s what he brings to the football team. He’s selfless, deter- mined and very ambitious.
‘He has a great passion for Gaelic games. He is a great credit to his family, to his club, Parnells, and we are really lucky to have him in Dublin GAA, really, really lucky.
‘His application and how he works at his game continuously is a great example, not only for the younger players in the squad but for the older members and for the management team as well.’
That is rich praise but it could be no other way. Cluxton is an extraordinary figure, but because he has no social media profile, because he avoids the endorsement and PR beats, his reputation is perhaps weighed lightly.
It shouldn’t be, however. When the final accounts of this mighty generation are made, Cluxton’s value will outshine all others.
His speech from the steps of the Hogan Stand yesterday was short but polite. Nobody connected to Dublin will ever admit it publicly, but winning Leinster long ceased to be more than routine for them.
Kildare arrived determined to play football, but the defending champions were better by at least the nine points which divided the sides at the end.
The vanquished deserve to have their ambition recognised. Teams should now accept there is no benefit in trying to limit the damage against this blue force. Dublin are not flawless, and there were fleeting occasions when Kildare pinched at their vulnerabilities. When Dublin scored two goals in little more than a minute early on, however, the competitive note was written out of this production. Gavin has presided over more emphatic days as Dublin manager, but there was a certainty and an efficiency about this performance that impressed. Their League form was mixed and they started the business of summer patchily. The Diarmuid Connolly affair tugged at them, too, evidenced by Gavin’s emotive contribution after the semifinal win over Westmeath. A manager who would not defend his players publicly is not worth tuppence, and we know well by now that Gavin is a great deal more valuable than that. He is a great manager nurturing a great group of players. Best of all, they are led by an incontestably great figure in Cluxton. He did not, of course, sit alongside Gavin for the post-match interviews. That is not his style. Making forwards wince with regret is more to his taste.
“He is the most powerful and enduring figure”