Kieran Shannon: Stephen Cluxton uncertainty adds to sense Dublin are vulnerable

GONE OR NOT? Uncertainty about Stephen Cluxton’s Dublin future could become a major distraction, warns Kieran Shannon, who writes: ‘If Cluxton is to come back this season, it has to be in the next fortnight. Any later one will be unfair to the group.’ Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Maybe he’s just doing a Jack or a Mannion.

Maybe, like them, we’ll see Stephen Cluxton back in blue, just as they’ve returned before from sabbaticals, and in Dermot Connolly’s case in 2019, as late as the quarter-final round of the All-Ireland series.

Maybe, like Elvis with his Kit Kat, he ain’t gone, he’s just having a break.

Indeed it’s entirely possible that Stephen Cluxton might end up sitting out the remainder of this year — and yet return in 2022.

Sure it’s not the norm for a 40-something to step away and then lace them back up, though as recently as two years ago, Darren Mulherne went between the posts for the Waterford footballers at 46 for his championship debut — 29 years after his initial county call-up. If Mulherne could step back in after all that time away, a Cluxton could certainly return a little over a year after going a full championship campaign without conceding a goal.

In recent days, Vinnie Murphy described Cluxton’s as “football’s Ring”. Ring played county until he was 43. That’s not beyond Cluxton, possibly all the more so for having had a gap year.

It’s entirely plausible that just because he’s not feeling like playing now doesn’t mean he wants to retire, with all the finality that comes with that. In Clare this year they played without their captain, Gary Brennan. Again, possibly the county’s greatest-ever player was remarkably reticent about ending any speculation and declaring his future plans. And when he eventually did let it be known that he would not be playing for Clare in 2021, it was noticeable that he refrained from using the R word. He didn’t want to close that door for good.

There are significant differences between Cluxton and all the aforementioned cases though. Brennan and Mannion and McCaffrey all let their managers know before the season that they would be unavailable. Mulherne answered the call in Waterford because it was made out of desperation and a dearth of alternatives. Connolly’s role was strictly as an impact sub, one of six players Jim Gavin could spring from the bench.

Unlike Waterford, Dublin have several capable goalkeepers to call upon in Evan Comerford and Michael Shiel; while they may not be a Cluxton, they’d have to seriously underperform in the coming weeks for them to be both leapfrogged in the current playing rotation.

If Cluxton is to come back this season, it has to be in the next fortnight. While an earlier deadline might not have been fair on Cluxton, any later one will be unfair to Comerford and the group. They don’t need the distraction, something someone like Cluxton, who viewed the media and endorsements as unnecessary distractions, surely appreciates.

Of course, Stephen Cluxton is entitled not to be rushed to declare if he’s retiring or not. It just would help Dublin were they, and everyone else, to know whether he’ll be back in 2021 or not.

Already there are signs of slippage. It’s eight years since a team ran them as close in Leinster as Wexford did last Sunday. The seven-point lead they lost in Thurles against Kerry isn’t something they’ve done this side of the 2015 drawn semi-final against Mayo. After almost a decade of having the best and highest-scoring bench in football, this past league they had the lowest-scoring bench in either Division One or Two, Aaron Byrne’s goal against Galway being their sole score from a substitute in that campaign.

While in recent seasons it looked like their processes — the game smarts, the ridiculous shooting efficiency — were getting even better, compensating for their personnel being marginally weaker. Generational players like Brogan, Connolly, and Flynn were all past their best in 2019 when the team was at its peak — 2021 might be the year where not even they can offset the erosion of panel depth.

You go through the players that are now either retired or on the margins that helped them edge Mayo and Kerry in all those battles from 2015 to 2019. You can pick a whole team. Cluxton; O’Carroll, McMahon, Daly; Flynn, O’Sullivan, McCaffrey; Bastick, Macauley; Connolly, McManamon, Andrews; Mannion, O’Gara, Brogan.

They may well still be fine. The triumvirate of Fenton, Kilkenny, and Con are still in their prime. Scully and Howard are approaching theirs. Dean Rock is back. James McCarthy looks like he’ll never go away. They got three scores from their bench on Sunday, and should Cormac Costello be held in reserve, suddenly they again have one of the most explosive cavalries in the game.

But without clarity on Cluxton, more so than being without Cluxton, the aura is slightly fading, the gap is narrowing.

The team to beat are beginning to look that bit more beatable.