Looking after No 1: Durcan will come back stronger

The nature of goalkeeping is that survival one day means nothing a few weeks later

I know a list of things that have to be said but which will mean nothing to him. At half past three last Sunday he was this year’s All Star goalie in waiting. At five o’clock, he was still that. This year he came to the summer looking fitter than he has ever looked, looking more commanding than he has ever looked and operating a kick-out strategy which put him within touching distance of the greatest kick-out operator that Gaelic football has seen, Stephen Cluxton. One of Paul Durcan’s kick-outs last Sunday, when he angled a ball out to a yellow jersey on the angle between the 21 and the sideline was a fantastic kick.

Every goalie hits a reef now and then. Even my friend Stephen Cluxton has had the odd haunting moment in that goal beneath the hill. It’s the same goal where Donaghy stole two goals against Alan Quirke back in 2007.