'He won't be playing'

Ger Brennan has confirmed that Stephen Cluxton won’t play for Dublin next year and will instead focus on his new role in the backroom team alongside Dean Rock and Denis Bastick.

The news would suggest that Cluxton’s inter-county days are over, but Brennan stopped short of saying that the nine-time All-Ireland SFC winning goalkeeper had retired when he spoke to the media for the first time yesterday since becoming Dublin senior football manager.

“He won’t be playing, he is there 100% as a coach / selector,” the St Vincent’s clubman said.

“His duties extend beyond goalkeeping. There’s a great goalkeeping coach there, Josh Moran, and he’s going to stay in that role and Stephen will be looking at the bigger picture.

“Having played with Stephen and Denis and Dean over the years, obviously when I finished up, those lads went on to All-Irelands, but their ability to read the game helped to make us what we were and certainly towards getting over the hump in 2011 and what we were subsequently.

“They were 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, they’re massive additions to the setup.

“But Stephen 100% is part of the management team.”

When asked if Cluxton had retired, Brennan replied: “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 but he’s definitely not part of the playing group, he’s fully part of the management group and if you can get him to use the word retirement, fair play to you!”