John Fogarty: Stephen Cluxton is only back for one thing

INTERESTED SPECTATOR: Dublin substitute Stephen Cluxton watches the second half of Sunday’s Allianz League Division 2 match against Louth at Croke Park. Cluxton’s return to the inter-county came as a huge surprise. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Any other sport, any other prized athlete to be more precise, there would have been fanfare. The marketing people would have insisted, it being a Dublin home league game in Croke Park, even if it was a Division 2 game.

The return of a six-time champion captain from a two-season hiatus would have been cause for a pitch introduction on his own. Maybe a belt of Damien Dempsey’s ‘Patience’ over the PA as he emerged from the Hogan Stand tunnel. Stephen Cluxton, back to keep his eye on his goal.

At least the headline writers had some fun. Noting the comeback coinciding with the start of daylights savings time, one of the best, Karl Doyle, quipped: “The Clux went back today.”

The first inkling anybody outside the Dublin group got of the return was Cluxton running out onto the pitch wearing a No 28 training top at 1.34pm and posted on social media four minutes later. Confusion about whether the 41-year-old was in the panel or part of the coaching set-up was cleared up at 1.46pm when it was confirmed he would be wearing the No 16 jersey, one of five changes to the squad named in the programme.

The relative secrecy would have been appreciated by Cluxton.

As quietly as he at least tried to slip out in 2021, he succeeded in subtly sliding back in. For a man who according to Paddy Andrews raged at the brashness of the team sponsor AIG’s “Dublin — Home of Sam” billboard in the Commercials club on the side of the N7 coming into Dublin, the slightest bit of fuss within the control of the management would have been cringeworthy.

If the stories are true, it was the commotion caused by the illegal training session in Innisfails almost two years ago to the day that prompted him to step aside, although team management reported the following month that he was still part of the group. Understanding Cluxton’s decency and sportsmanship, it would be easy to understand if the attempt to get an illicit jump on the opposition when the country was under covid restrictions didn’t sit easy with him. Not that Cluxton would generally be against Dublin doing their business quietly. From Pat Gilroy’s time in charge right through Jim Gavin’s era, the camp had been uber-tight, although there had been some slippage in recent times under Dessie Farrell.

That their greatest player’s return was kept hush-hush, when according to Farrell he’s been back training two weeks, would be a further indication to him that the dressing room is sacrosanct once more.

Hearing about another old reliable rejoining the Dublin flock after Kerry’s game in Salthill on Sunday afternoon and him being no stranger to bringing players back from retirement or sabbatical, Jack O’Connor might have cracked a wry smile. In 2009, he reintroduced 31-year-old Mike McCarthy three years after the defender had supposedly played his last game for Kerry and he went on to claim a fourth All-Ireland. He also had a word in Tadhg Kennelly’s ear that year before he delivered his one-season wonder and then headed back to Australia.

Two years later, O’Connor convinced another 31-year-old in Eoin Brosnan to give it another shot after the Dr Crokes man sat out the 2010 season and played on for three more seasons. O’Connor persuaded Seán O’Sullivan to lace up again in ‘12. However, O’Connor has never attempted a mass revival as Farrell has done this year with the reappearances of Cluxton, Jack McCaffrey, and Paul Mannion.

Suddenly, all but Jonny Cooper of the team that won the 2019 All-Ireland final replay against Kerry are in the band once more. Mention of Cluxton in the same breath as McCaffrey and Mannion has triggered phrases like “one last hurrah” and claims that their reappearances have become a distraction. Lee Keegan mentioned on RTÉ’s League Sunday that McCaffrey has only played against Cork in this league but why the concern? Seven games gone, another 10 to go in the season if Dublin are doing things right, Division 2 wouldn’t be of much use to proven men like the 2015 footballer of the year.

If what we are telling you and what we are being told is right, that this is the most open championship in years, marginal gains will matter but Cluxton is much more than that. It may have been Farrell or Gilroy’s injuries-enforced plea that convinced him to come back but Cluxton doesn’t seem a sucker for desperation. The only player in the Dublin squad to have previously experienced Division 2 football prior to this year, a first start since 2020 may await him in the second tier on Sunday.

That it comes in a curtain-raiser might appeal to his humble nature too but make no mistake he is only back for one thing.

Time to link hurling league and championship?

Is it time to link hurling league and championship?

At this stage, it would appear the GAA will return to a more elite version of the Allianz Hurling League but don’t expect it to be in place until 2025.

Streamlining the football competition, possibly reducing the number of rounds by two and making Division 1 two groups of six, to reflect the condensed spring may also be in the pipeline but participants in both codes would have to be given a year’s notice.

Galway or Wexford’s hurlers, for example, wouldn’t have approached this year’s staging so half-heartedly if they knew their indifference would land them in a lesser Division 1 competition, as Division 1B was between 2013 and 2019.

Relegating more than one team would seem to be a proposal with merit but the GAA would want to avoid a yoyoing of the likes of Antrim, Laois, and Westmeath between the top flight and the second rung.

Besides, Antrim have been showing under Darren Gleeson that they can compete with leading teams, especially in Corrigan Park. If the GAA wanted a quicker fix for the hurling league without having to give as much notice, they might consider TJ Ryan’s idea of giving a spot or two in the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals to the league winner and/or finalists.

In one way, it would likely relieve the pressure cooker that is the Munster Championship. In another, and most importantly, it would provide a tangible reward for succeeding in the league and give it genuine purpose.

Laois were the exception in 2019 when they beat Dublin but the idea of giving Joe McDonagh Cup finalists places in the last eight of the Liam MacCarthy Cup ahead of the other five teams competing in it at provincial level felt like a sop to developing counties when it was introduced and remains one.

Just as the football league is now intrinsically linked to the championship, shouldn’t hurling’s two biggest competitions be also?

Volunteers suffer in GAA HR mess

Last Saturday, Central Council delegates received an update on the HR mess the GAA is facing but it was in April last year director general Tom Ryan first gave an indication of the gravity of the organisation’s review into the area.

Conducted by Mazars on behalf of the association, covid delayed the recommendations being acted upon and without the new human relations structures in place the updated coaching and games development funding structure can’t be implemented. Minutes from that Central Council meeting 11 months ago illustrate just how taken aback delegates were. Ulster chairman Ciarán McLaughlin described the findings as “stark”. Cork delegate Tracey Kennedy believed evolution had made the GAA fragmented. Galway chair Paul Bellew said details of the review were “sobering”.

Both Roscommon and Leitrim delegates Pat Compton and Enda Tiernan expressed their belief volunteers were not equipped to manage HR matters. Considering what is happening in Donegal right now and just how overwhelmed county delegates are feeling, their words have resonance. As Croke Park has now been called to review the divisive academy situation in Donegal, former county chairman Mick McGrath’s remarks in this newspaper last August bear repeating. 

“The responsibility around volunteers has put them under stress ... We’re not always getting the best person to take a position because often the best person is not willing to take on such gigantic workloads.”

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