These might be an anxious few days for Jim Gavin. Will our captain and goalkeeper be able to play? Should we start Jack McCaffrey, John Small, Cian O’Sullivan maybe? Will the pitch surface at Croke Park be okay?
Not that Gavin ever gives that impression, the Dublin football manager typically undaunted ahead of Sunday’s Leinster football final against Laois. Why should he? In his now sixth season of Sundays as manager, Gavin has contested 16 major trophies – between the league, the Leinster championship, and the All-Ireland – and won 14 of them.
That’s five Leinster titles, five league titles, and four All-Ireland titles: on Sunday against Laois, he looks to make that 15 from 17, Dublin actually seeking their 13th Leinster football title in 14 years; Laois are aiming for only their second in 72 years.
Gavin’s only two defeats came in last year’s league final, to Kerry, and in the 2014 All-Ireland semi-final, to Donegal. Still, one man ever-present in all that is his captain and goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton, which throws at least significance over the doubts about his participation on Sunday.
Especially when his replacement is the 20-year-old Evan Comerford, yet to make his first championship start, and whose two league starts earlier this year ended in defeat to Monaghan, and a draw against Galway.
For now, Gavin intends on giving Cluxton every chance of playing: at 36, and last missing a championship game for Dublin back in 2004, Cluxton sustained a rib injury early in Dublin’s 19-point semi-final win over Longford last Sunday week.
“Obviously he received that bang so, he’s a little bit tender, so we’ll make that assessment over the coming days,” said Gavin. “He’s been out (training) with us. Stephen is a tough guy, mentally very strong, determined, so we’ll just have to see over the coming days how he progresses.
“I’ll leave all those assessments to the medical team and the player. Ultimately it’s a player’s call, to say whether he’s available for selection. So I’ll talk to them over the coming hours and days and we’ll see how that goes out.”
Comerford replaced Cluxton after the injury, on 22 minutes, and it turned out he hadn’t a single save to make against a Longford team by then down to 14 men. Given the lingering doubts about Cluxton’s fitness it’s likely the Ballymun Kickhams player will make his first championship start.
“Evan would have played obviously two league games as well this year, did very, very well,” said Gavin. “But yeah he (Cluxton) has been consistently there and that’s a testament to his determination for his sport, he’s a great passion for it and that’s very apparent when you’re around him, each time you train with the team, he’s a great leader. So as I said we’ll give him every chance and see how it is.”
Their stats are certainly contrasting: Cluxton, who made his 100th league appearance in February, now in his 18th championship season with Dublin, with 93 championship appearances, has five All-Irelands, 13 Leinster titles, five league titles, five All Stars; Comerford, who only made his senior club debut with Ballymun Kickhams in 2015, won all his honours last year, including the All-Ireland as number two goalkeeper, and also an All-Ireland under-21 title.
They are contrasting in other ways too – all of Cluxton’s experience reflected in his build and the lines on his face, Comerford, just under six feet and distinctly lighter, baby-faced in comparison.
Gavin, however, has little worries that the young apprentice is ready to move up if required: “To be called up as a goalkeeper very suddenly can be quite traumatic, but it didn’t ruffle him at all,” he said. “He looked very composed going in. (We) chatted to him just before he went onto the pitch, he was very much present and played very well.
Lots of good goalkeepers
“There are lots of good goalkeepers playing in Dublin senior football and intermediate football as well. I suppose the big thing we looked for with Evan is his character.
“He’s very strong mentally, has a great work ethic and that’s for anybody who wants to break into intercounty football, that’s probably the most important thing that he has. He does have a great attitude and for a young man he’s got a great knowledge of the game.
“He knows exactly what he wants his players to do for him as a goalkeeper. Very commanding. Has always been an excellent shot-stopper. You would have seen that at underage and he’s really developed a repertoire of kicking skills which again obviously is needed in the modern game. He’s a bright future ahead of him.
“And it’s down to Evan. Hard work, hard work pays off. He’s put a lot of work into that facet of his game. It’s only one element but it’s an important one and he’s worked really hard and his attitude and character is what has always impressed us with him.”
Dublin do use a third goalkeeper, Andy Bunyan, but the pressure will be on Comerford, should he start, to dictate Dublin’s game the way Cluxton does: again Gavin sounded unconcerned. “When any player isn’t available to us, the next player needs to step up. So the team has been always adaptable to players that we have or haven’t. It’s just you need to move on.”
Cluxton, Gavin admitted, does bring something special, not just as captain (Diarmuid Connolly had previously been vice-captain, no decision has been made on who might take over on Sunday should Cluxton not feature). “I suppose it’s his (Cluxton’s) leadership instincts. And leadership is all about setting an example and influencing players around you. Stephen is normally the first at training, he’s normally the last off the pitch. That work ethic that Stephen has and his diligence to his craft of goalkeeping, I’m sure Evan and the other goalkeepers that are around him, and not only the goalkeepers but the other players as well, they see it every time we train together.
“He’s obviously achieved an awful lot in the past, but he’s relentless in trying to be his best. You obviously want your leader to, first of all, set the example for the team and Stephen does that on a consistent basis. That consistency is what has made him the player that he is. What better example can you give to players than that?”
