Kerry, Croke Park, Cluxton… Sunday brings the Kingdom into collision once more with the Dublin goalkeeper and, judging by what Colm Cooper has to say, the defending All-Ireland champions are still unclear on how to deal with the opposing captain.
Back in 2011 it was Stephen Cluxton who famously walked two-thirds the length of the pitch out of his goal to kick the winning free towards an ecstatic Hill 16.
Two years ago the Parnells man was beaten three times in a classic semi-final shootout, with the Dubs still coming out on top, thanks in part to Cluxton’s kick-outs.
Cluxton’s restarts remain a huge challenge for opposing teams, even if his free-taking exploits have been limited due to the consistency of Dean Rock and the ambidexterity of Diarmuid Connolly.
While Cluxton is unlikely to break Kerry hearts from 50 yards, Kingdom forward Cooper told Radio Kerry that the goalkeeper is still key to the Dublin gameplan and the challenge of stopping his kick-outs is much tougher than it looks from your couch at home.
It is just so hard to pin Cluxton down. If you squeeze up he’ll kick it over you and he has [Paul] Flynn and Connolly, who are two six-foot-plus guys who he can kick it out over midfield to. It’s not just as easy as watching on television: ‘Why don’t you squeeze up! Squeeze up!’ There is a lot more that goes into it than that.
Mayo elected to squeeze the middle of the field in their two semi-final meetings with Dublin, which saw Cluxton repeatedly pop a quick kick to corner-back Jonny Cooper. Mayo were eventually beaten in a replay but four-time All-Ireland winner Cooper defended their approach, describing it as “brave”.
“It didn’t amaze me because every team takes a different approach to him because he is so, so good,” said the 32 year old. “They obviously made a conscious decision that they weren’t going to push up and that they were allowing Dublin take the ball out uncontested. That’s a brave decision and you live and die by those decisions.”
Chalk it down to pre-match “cute-hoorism” if you will, but the Gooch claimed that Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s Kerry are struggling to formulate a plan to combat Cluxton’s kick-outs.
“I don’t think you can ever stop him completely but all you are looking to do is maybe nullify him some bit. Hopefully we can come up with some sort of plan that will at least give us a chance of breaking even in some shape or form.”
