GAA Top 20: Leinster Football - Innovation puts Cluxton at the top of the rankings

Only three goalkeepers, Billy Morgan (1973), Martin Furlong (1982) and Stephen Cluxton (2019) have been chosen as Footballer of the Year in the 62-year history of the award.

It shows how difficult it is for No 1s to beat their outfield rivals – especially forwards – for individual honours. That Stephen Cluxton has managed it in this particular Leinster exercise is down to a simple reality: nobody in the province has made more impact on football over the last 50 years.

It’s debatable whether his shot-stopping is better than John O’Leary, Furlong or Paddy Cullen, but the rest of his game, especially the manner in which he has changed kick-out play, sends him shooting up the impact charts.

Not only is his accuracy and timing a major plus for Dublin, there’s the psychological advantage that comes from knowing the opposition are in a constant state of worry over the influence he will exert from restarts.

Sadly, Matt Connor’s career was cut short by a car accident, but he had done enough by then to ensure he would remain at the top end of most achievement lists.

Superbly balanced and with a positional instinct that invariably took him to the right place at the right time, he was the ultimate stylist and a deadly finisher.

Brian Mullins played a different type of game, based on power, endurance and endless graft. Fiercely competitive, he was central to Dublin’s against-the-odds revival in 1974. Still only 19, he out-manoeuvred several more experienced rivals and would go on to be one of the best midfielders of all time.

It’s quite an achievement for the Skryne club to have two players in the top five, but Colm O’Rourke and Trevor Giles are there on merit after careers which, as with two All-Ireland wins each, saw them take the Footballer of the Year award in 1991 and 1999 respectively.

Dublin, Meath, Offaly and Kildare are the only counties represented on the top 20 which will, no doubt, attract criticism from elsewhere.

That’s understandable, but then competition was fierce as our final selections proves.

LEINSTER TOP 20

1. Stephen Cluxton (Dublin), 2. Matt Connor (Offaly), 3. Brian Mullins (Dublin), 4. Colm O'Rourke (Meath), 5. Trevor Giles (Meath), 6. James McCarthy (Dublin), 7. Brian Fenton (Dublin), 8. John O’Leary (Dublin), 9. Martin Furlong (Offaly), 10. Graham Geraghty (Meath), 11. Martin O’Connell (Meath), 12. Jimmy Keaveney (Dublin), 13. Glenn Ryan (Kildare), 14. Bobby O’Malley (Meath), 15. Bernard Brogan Jnr (Dublin), 16. Ciarán Kilkenny (Dublin), 17. Jack McCaffrey (Dublin), 18. Darren Fay (Meath), 19. Alan Brogan (Dublin), 20. Willie Bryan (Offaly)

You can send your own top 20 list, as well as any issues or disagreements you might have with our rankings, to sportcomment@independent.ie

Click on your county below:

Carlow football, Carlow hurling, Dublin football, Dublin hurling, Kildare football, Kilkenny hurling, Laois football, Laois hurling, Louth football, Longford football, Meath football, Offaly football, Offaly hurling, Westmeath football, Westmeath hurling, Wexford football, Wexford hurling, Wicklow football