New Dublin boss Ger Brennan confirms Stephen Cluxton won't play next year
The newly appointed Dublin senior football manager, Ger Brennan, pictured during his first media briefing at Staycity Aparthotels, Dublin City Centre. Staycity Aparthotels is proud sponsor of Dublin GAA across all four codes of the game. Sign up & save 10% every time you book direct at www.staycity.com.
New Dublin manager Ger Brennan has confirmed his selector Stephen Cluxton will not be taking up a playing role next season.
The nine-time All-Ireland SFC winning goalkeeper will be assisting Brennan as a full-blown selector and coach in 2026 with Josh Moran continuing in his role as goalkeeping coach.
After making his debut in 2001, it means 43-year-old Cluxton’s last game in the navy and blue was the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final defeat to Tyrone in June.
After a two-year hiatus in 2021 and ’22, Cluxton returned to county colours in ’23 when he claimed his ninth All-Ireland medal as well as a seventh All Star award.
But Cluxton’s responsibilities will now be confined to the sideline with his old team-mates including Dean Rock and Denis Bastick.
“He won't be playing,” Brennan stated at his first media briefing as manager at StayCity Aparthotels Dublin on Thursday afternoon. “He's there 100% as a coach/selector. His duties extend beyond goalkeeping. There's a great goalkeeping coach there, Josh Moran, and he's going to continue to stay in that role.
“Stephen will be looking at the bigger picture. Having played with Stephen, with Denis and with Dean, when I finished up, those lads went on to win five, eight, nine All-Irelands respectively. But their ability to read the game on the field was something which helped make us what we were. And certainly getting over the hump in 2011 and what happened subsequently.
“They're like having coaches on the pitch from a playing point of view, so to have their expertise now off the field, given what they gave to the county on the field, it's certainly a massive addition to the set-up.”
Brennan smiled that there was never going to be any retirement statement from Cluxton. “Some players, me being one of them, like to make announcements and Stephen being another type of player, he’s probably not one for announcements. If you can get him to use the word ‘retirement’, fair play to you!
“When I was appointed, I obviously had a small bit of homework done before the appointment to whet the appetite of the lads there involved and that was the genesis of it.
“From there, we had a couple of follow-up chats and he’s a lot of learning even from last year in terms of what was good and areas for improvement and he’s keen to help bridge that gap.”
Brennan lauded his former team-mate’s stellar Dublin career and added: “Off the field, every decision he makes is made with Dublin GAA in mind and certainly that helped with the group in getting where it got to under Pat [Gilroy], obviously Jim [Gavin] and then Dessie [Farrell].”
Brennan confirmed that, as well as Cluxton, Bastick, Rock and Niall Moyna, Martin Kennedy will be rejoining his backroom team as athletic development lead. Kennedy was Dublin’s head of athletic performance from 2010 to ’15. Graham Norton, who worked with Brennan in Louth during this past season, comes on board as strength and conditioning coach.
Colm Flanagan from Brennan’s St Vincent’s club will be overseeing logistics with a lot of Farrell’s analysis team remaining involved.
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