Stephen is an exceptional leader for the team: Jim Gavin

Mon, 10th June 2019

Dublin manager Jim Gavin praised Stephen Cluxton following Sunday's Leinster SFC semi-final victory over Kildare in Croke Park.

The Dublin captain made his 100th SFC appearance for the Dubs against the Lilywhites as the Parnell's clubman continues to rewrite the history books.

"It’s a fantastic achievement for Stephen. He is just a humble and grounded man. He is an exceptional leader for the team. He leads by examples and has a great influence on the guys around him," said Jim.

"But he is one part of collective team that are all dependent on one another. We had a really solid performance today."

Reflecting on the game itself Jim identified areas for improvement as the Dubs begin their preparation for the Leinster SFC final.

"We’re delighted to get over the line and be back in the Leinster final on the 23rd of June.

"Some aspects of that performance we’ll be happy with. Some of it wasn’t up to our standards. Overall we’re just delighted to be back in the Leinster final again to represent Dublin," added Jim.

"We would pride ourselves on trying to play the traditional style of Dublin football which is a skill-based game. We do most of our work on the practice-field around those elements.

"It was good to see the amount of scores from play and the guys execute the shots. Interspersed between that we gave a lot of the ball away. That won’t be good enough the next day."