Cluxton the undisputed No.
SUB EVAN LEFT BETWEEN ROCK & HARD PLACE
IT’S almost two years since someone other than Stephen Cluxton stood in goal for Dublin in League or Championship.
While most county bosses have a firm idea of who their number one is, they will invariably rotate the goalkeepers to some degree over the course of a League campaign so that if the understudy is required come Championship, he’ll be at least somewhat road-tested.
It hasn’t tended to be Dublin boss Jim Gavin’s style, however. Michael Savage played a couple of games towards the end of the 2016 League when Gavin said that Cluxton was “away”.
The previous year Sean Currie played against Kerry in Killarney and endured a difficult afternoon in what turned out to be Dublin’s last defeat for more than two years.
Currie isn’t even first choice for his club, Ballymun Kickhams, anymore having been overtaken by Evan Comerford (right), who is now Cluxton’s Dublin understudy. Cluxton, 36, has played the last 21 League and Championship games for Dublin and there’s nothing to suggest he won’t extend that run against Kerry on Sunday and well beyond. Former Dublin star Barney Rock is now part of the Ballymun management team along with former West- meath boss Brendan Hackett.
“I would say the thing about Evan is, Evan knows it is a tough role,” said Rock (below).
“Stephen Cluxton, he is in there. Evan is certainly learning from him. He will get time. He will possibly play in the last couple of games, I am not too sure.
“It’s very hard to read Jim Gavin’s mind, as you know. I suppose from Evan’s point of view he’s still playing in the games in training so he’ll certainly know what it’s about.
“For him, it’s just awkward that he’s having to compete against the best goalkeeper that we have.
“Who knows when it is going to finish? It could be another four years. It could be anything. “Martin Furlong and these fellas went on for so long and he’s just got to be patient, unlike Shane Supple who didn’t wait.
“At that stage he just decided that he didn’t want to be second best. He wanted to do something else and he moved on then.”
Supple has since played extensively for Bohemians in the League of Ireland while still lining out for St Brigid’s at club level. Given how difficult Cluxton was going to be to shift, it appears he made the right call for himself personally.
“It depends on what is right,” countered Rock. “What happens if Stephen gets injured? Somebody else gets in. It’s the same as any of the players that are there.
“We can’t all take that role. Evan is only 21 now. If Stephen does decide in two or three years’ time, that it’s time to go and Evan is still there he will be the replacement.
“Same thing happened with John O’leary. John O’leary was there from 1980 all the way through to 1997.
“Nobody else was in. What do you do with all the good goalkeepers that were there? And there were some great goalkeepers back then.
“So, it’s just we’ve been blessed with goalkeepers, Paddy Cullen and then John, Davy Byrne just for a couple of years before Cluxton came in. He is the greatest keeper that ever was in my mind. He doesn’t want to hand it over to any young lad, no doubt.”