END OF THE LINE
Whether it’s a successful drive for five or finally laying a hand on Sam, this summer could see big names bow out
ANEW Championship may be about to dawn, but for some of Gaelic football’s biggest stars this might just be one final lap around the summer circuit.
For most, that decision may already have been taken while many others may see how the next few months roll before making up their minds.
A climbing mileage clock and diminishing game-time may well inform that decision, but for the two top teams this decade, Dublin and Mayo, how this Championship finishes out could be the ultimate determining factor.
If Dublin complete their drive for five, it will provide an irresistible opportunity for some of their most celebrated talents to call it a day and should Mayo finally get over the line leaving at the top will hardly ever feel so right.
Sportsmail draws up its top 10 of football’s big guns who may be set to pull the Championship trigger for a final time.
1 STEPHEN CLUXTON (DUBLIN)
He will shatter the century Championship appearance glass ceiling next month, and the truth is there no reason why he can’t go on.
His numbers are high, this is 19th season and he will celebrate his 38th birthday this December, yet he plays in a positon which is largely insulated from the degenerative impact of approaching middle age.
He tops this chart because his departure will reek of significance — he is, unquestionably, the greatest goalkeeper of all time and it is a position that will take filling — and could be possibly be interpreted as the beginning of the end for this group.
Will he? Well, we will be the last to find out, but in lifting the Sam Maguire for the fifth time in a row he might just feel that there is nothing else left for him to do.
2 BERNARD BROGAN (DUBLIN)
There is no question that this is his final run. He could have walked away last year when, after rehabbing from a cruciate knee injury, Jim Gavin did not bow to public sentiment by including him in his All-Ireland final panel. But Brogan, 35, has hung in there because he knows that something special is likely to happen this August and even if his role is one on the margins he will feel with some justification that he played his part in delivering them to history’s front door.
3 ANDY MORAN (MAYO)
Moran (left) admitted in the aftermath of his team’s National League success that he has given some thought to quitting in the close season. The likelihood is that he is back for a final spin – he will be 36 later this year and is unlikely to be a starting option this summer — but he could have a profound impact. Win or lose this feels like the end of the road for the 2017 player of the year.
4 PAUL FLYNN (DUBLIN)
It is not just the conclusion of the drive for five which is likely to influence Flynn, but his role as CEO of the Gaelic Players Association that also may persuade him.
He is still capable of having an impact from the bench but, hitting 33 later this summer, he is no longer the force that won four AllStars on the bounce.
5 COLM BOYLE (MAYO)
The heart will as ever be willing for the iron man of Mayo’s defence and he showed two years ago – when he was dropped at the start of the summer and ended it with his fourth All-Star — that he will decide when he is finished.
But as James Horan leans on youth, he may just feel that he has just one more shot at the Holy Grail.
6 NEIL McGEE (DONEGAL)
The impact he had when coming from the bench in the recent Division 2 final win over Meath suggests that he has plenty to offer, but it may be only for one season more.
McGee, 34 later this year, is no longer the defensive power who won three All-Stars in four years, and the inter-county game can be cruel on fire-fighting defenders when they lose a yard of pace.
7 DAVID CLARKE (MAYO)
The two-time All-Star goalkeeper’s future may well be determined as to how his joust for the number one jersey with teammate Robbie Hennelly rolls this summer.
Clarke has never been afraid of the fight to be number, or for that matter was found lacking patience when he lost that fight, serving out lengthy periods of his career as an understudy.
Right now, particularly after Hennelly’s impressive performance in the League final, he is playing catch-up again.
And given that he will celebrate his 36th birthday at the end of this year, even his patience must have a limit.
8 FRANK McGLYNN (DONEGAL)
With just a solitary All-Star, it is not hard to prosecute the argument that McGlynn is one of the most under-rated half-backs in the modern game.
However, while he retains the game-smarts which makes him such a good ball player, he has struggled for pace on hard summer pitches in recent seasons and at 33 he might just feel that this is as good a place as any to stop.
9 VINNY COREY (MONAGHAN)
Has made a mockery of the birth cert argument by being arguably the best man marker — just ask Michael Murphy — over the past decade. Capped it off last year with one of his best ever seasons, where his ability to get forwarded with effect reminded that he once had a stint at full forward. Still, we make this his 17th season and when you hit 36, retirement is always on the agenda.
10 ROSS MUNNELLY (LAOIS)
Munnelly’s (above) career is all the more remarkable given that most of it has been spent playing for a county which has struggled to be competitive and, as a result, been dogged by a high player turnover.
A sensation when he broke into the team in 2003, he continues to provide quality and scores from the bench.
He will think hard about coming back, but when he blows out his 37th candle in December he may just feel that the time is right to let the light go out on his intercounty career as well.