Stephen Cluxton’s crankiness will be as crucial to Dublin as his goalkeeping via IrishTimesSport
From everything we know about Cluxton over his 22-year Dublin career, that crankiness may well be the most important aspect of his return. That Dublin have been on the drift for the past few seasons is inarguable. That they nonetheless haven’t been very far away is also clear for everyone to see. With no standout team in the championship, all it will take is a run of games where they cut out the sloppiness and they will surely be bang there when it comes down to the last four.
And it worked. It brought them to a place no other intercounty GAA team had ever gone before. Five All Irelands in a row, a sixth tacked on in Farrell’s first year. They became a powerhouse of competence, cool heads, meticulous decision-making. One that did the basics to the very highest standards to which the basics could be done. Who thought with absolute clarity in game situations and managed the deathless closing minutes of tight games so much better than everybody else.
It’s been there, even in this league campaign. Spending a spring in Division Two doesn’t come with a stigma attached – most of the big counties do their penance there every once in a while. But part of the deal is that you spend the campaign reminding everyone of why you don’t belong there. You dish out a few punishment beatings and you get your forwards to groove in their finishing ahead of championship.
The most glaring example of the drop in baseline standards came at the end of the Derry game. Ciarán Kilkenny has been far and away the best Dublin player of the Farrell era and was the only Dublin All-Star in the 2021 and 2022 teams. But with the game on the line in Celtic Park, he chose the easy handpassed point despite Cormac Costello being available for a certain goal inside. Dublin paid for it in the end, with Brendan Rogers sallying forward to kick the winner soon after.
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