Cluxton holding onto No 1 spot

LIKE Royalty, Stephen Cluxton has two birthdays.

His real one is December 17, but there are various online sources that will try and convince you it’s three months earlier.

It’s yet another indication that Cluxton is a man apart in the GAA world.

Imagine if any other county picked a 42-yearold goalkeeper for their first Championship game of the year – even though he hadn’t played a game for over nine months.

There would be talk of desperation, of how it was a gamble that could backfire.

But, when Cluxton lined out against Meath in Dublin’s Leinster opener, nobody batted an eyelid.

Indeed, many were shocked when a few of his kick-outs went astray in the first half.

Infallible

They didn’t allow for ring-rustiness, they just presumed Cluxton was infallible.

On Sunday, he will win his 18th Leinster Championship - that’s only three short of Meath’s total of 21, and they’re second on the overall roll of honour.

It’s not disrespectful to Louth to declare that number 18 is on its way – the bookies’ odds of 1/100 on Dublin make it clear what’s going to happen.

But Louth manager

Ger Brennan will be very happy with his lot. Louth have Kerry in their All-Ireland group but, with Monaghan and Meath in the mix, second spot is up for grabs.

Brennan will be quietly confident that his men can make the last eight of the Championship. He also knows Cluxton very well, having marshalled the defence in front of him for the Dubs.

Louth will likely see Sunday as a free shot, and Brennan will surely try and test his old colleague - whether with high balls or high pressing, or a mixture of both.

Even if they get some joy, Cluxton has the knack of putting any slips behind him very quickly.

Look at photographs of him from his debut season under Tommy

Carr in 2001 and he doesn’t look markedly different.

But he’s had his fair share of knocks and niggles.

That he is still Dublin’s number one at 42 says a lot about his mental resilience, as much as anything.

During his time in charge, Jim Gavin was always slow to single out players but, on the Saturday in 2019 that the Dubs secured the fabled five-in-a-row, he made an exception for Cluxton.

Sparkled

Gavin’s eyes sparkled when he brought up his goalkeeper and captain’s save from Kerry’s Stephen O’Brien at a crucial stage in the second half of the final replay.

“That was the result of hundreds of hours on the training pitch,” said Gavin.

“He had me with a laptop watching it in slow motion to see his positioning and footwork and that shows someone that is a master of his craft.

“Through that example he inspires people around him. He’s well able to talk, very articulate, but actions are what I’m interested in and that’s was Stephen Cluxton is all about he’s a doer.

“I saw it the day after the replay, him spending two hours on the pitch with Evan Comerford and Michael Shields from Sylvester’s, the goalkeeping coach. The three of them working on trying to rectify his positioning for Killian Spillane’s goal.

“So that’s someone who’s dedicated to their craft, and the result of that is what you see in those clutch moments, to have that composure to make himself big and strong and just do his job. That’s what

Stephen does – his job.”

After every game, Cluxton follows a familiar ritual.

He collects his gloves, kicking tee and bag from the goalmouth and shakes hands with a few opponents.

And he never leaves the field until he shoots the breeze with his opposing number one.