This weekend, Stephen Cluxton takes a record from Tomás Ó Sé. Surpassing the An Gaeltacht man along with his brother Marc, the Dublin keeper will move to the top of the all-time appearances list for the championship with 89. (It's also a weekend which will see Sean Cavanagh move level with the Ó Sés.) Given his age - he's just 35 - Cluxton will presumably raise that number into the 100s.
Speaking on Newstalk's Off The Ball last night, Tomás Ó Sé spoke about his admiration for Cluxton and in particular how he helped change the game with his short kick outs.
In a Dublin side littered with talented players, Ó Sé feels Cluxton is the most 'vital cog' of all.
He's just a one-off. He has changed the game. When I started Declan O'Keeffe had these big rugby boots and they used to be able to drive the ball 50, 60 yards and there were no short kick outs at all.
We used to have a fair amount of meetings about kick outs. He was well ahead of his time. A lot of keepers can go short to the 21 if there's a free man there. Cluxton has the ability to go 40 or 50 yards and pinpoint a man, even with traffic around the place. That's the ability he has.
One year we did our homework: he was hitting Flynn and Connolly most off the kick outs. We broke it down into percentages in terms of when he was going to out to those two players, it was very high. We blocked those two out and straight away, it just didn't bother [him], he just went to the corner back men.
Whatever is happening he can read the game, if the long ball is on he'll go; if the short ball is on, he'll go as well. I think it's just phenomenal.
Cluxton, I feel is still ahead in terms of kick outs. The ball is in mid-air and he has it up on the tee and it's gone.
I think it was last year, Dublin played Kerry and everyone was yelping that we had it cracked - two kick outs he lost in the whole game.
He's still the guy that sets the standard in my eyes.
It's Cluxton swiftness with kick outs, often a speed which even gets the better of the TV cameras, which Ó Sé believes is one of the most important factors in making it so effective. This is bolstered by a mental toughness, one which can see past mistakes to the next opportunity.
If you have a free, you can get your men zonally into their positions but if you don't have a free, the forwards are all over the place. The Dublin players have it in their heads straight away, 'Cluxton is going to be looking for the short one I'm going to be getting into where the space is and the ball is just gone straight away.'
Very often it's annoying when you're watching TV and they always miss the kick outs because they're playing you an action replay. By the time it comes back into it, the ball's up in the half forward line. That's how quickly they come out.
Whatever traffic, he doesn't seem to get flustered or bothered by it. He doesn't get involved in much controversy. He does everything simple and right. I presume he spends hours and hours at it. It's something he continuously works on, even in his own time.
Picture credit: Sportsfile
