They say that the two things people fear the most are death and public speaking. Dean Rock's heroics provided GAA fans with their first glimpse ever really of Stephen Cluxton the public speaker yesterday and it was, well, kind of odd. Cluxton opted for the typed-out script even though his speech was only about five sentences and featured all the obvious plaudits - GRMA opener, thank the sponsors, the county board, the supporters, hard luck to the losers, three cheers, etc. The bemused look on the faces of the Dublin players on the stairway shows that this was a moment that they'd been looking forward to. Cluxton is clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing - and who could blame him really? The 'that's it' closer might be the funniest sentence ever uttered in a GAA victory speech.
With likely Leinster final and All-Ireland final speeches to come from Cluxton, it begs the question - do we even the need the GAA captain's speech any more? Surely Cluxton could simply ditch the speech lift the trophy and get on with things. It'll be interesting to see how his speeches evolve over the summer.
Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
