‘With great privilege comes great responsibility’: Evan Comerford on Dublin keeper role

Evan Comerford has already put down one of the most unique intercounty careers in the history of Gaelic football. Still, maybe it was just coincidence that the Ballymun goalkeeper was one of the players on hand to launch Dublin’s new alternative jersey at Parnell Park on Thursday. Comerford has been on the Dublin squad for a decade, during which time he has accumulated five All-Ireland medals, eight Leinster titles and three National Leagues. But most of those limelight years were spent in the shadows as understudy to the greatest goalkeeper in the game, Stephen Cluxton.So, at 28, it feels now like Comerford’s days between the posts for Dublin might only be in their infancy.READ MOREWith Cluxton putting away his gloves to focus on a coaching role with the Dubs in 2026, Comerford and Hugh O’Sullivan battled it out for the No 1 jersey.O’Sullivan started four league games to Comerford’s three. However, Comerford lined out in seven of Dublin’s eight championship matches, including the All-Ireland quarter-final and semi-final.If his body and form allow, he hopes to be the capital’s custodian for a little while yet.“We’re blessed in Dublin, our facilities are pretty close,” says Comerford. “From that standpoint, I think it is set up for longevity. I can see 10 more years in the legs, provided the body allows me to do it.”[ Cillian O’Connor gets the ending he deserved to one of the greatest careers in GAA historyOpens in new window ]He was first called up to the senior panel in 2017 and Comerford has since made 18 championship appearances. He had to wait for his opportunity. In doing so, he chose patience rather than frustration. “Early in my career, it was easy, I kind of call it my apprenticeship phase,” he says. “You’re learning from the best. You have icons like Stephen [Cluxton], Jonny Cooper, James McCarthy around the dressingroom. You’re just in awe of these guys.Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton in 2025. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho “When Stephen stepped away in 2021, that was a real justification of, ‘okay, I’ve plied my trade, my chance is here now’. So there was massive motivation to go out in 2021 and prove that I wasn’t just here as a coaster hanging off the coattails of Stephen.“I really wanted to prove that I could add value, bring my own identity to things. Then the injuries hit. That was probably the most challenging phase. I’d just got my chance, then you feel like the tide is washing against you with the injuries. “So, you can either pack it in, you can give up on it or you can fight and work your way against it. Thankfully, it did work out from the injury standpoint and I feel like I’m nearly back to 2021 again, where the chance is here again to put the best foot forward.”The injuries: two groin surgeries, a broken collarbone and a torn cruciate. Comerford is a qualified physio so that helped with perspective and recovery, but the second groin injury in 2022 was the most worrying, because there was no certainty he’d ever get back between the sticks.[ Halfway there? Gaelic games integration timeline is no clearer after Dáil committeeOpens in new window ]He had been Dublin’s first-choice goalkeeper in the 2021 and 2022 championships.“I tore the groin off the bone,” he says. “The physios were great with it but there was a kind of not knowing will you kick again, not knowing will you play again. “It was on my kicking leg and being a goalkeeper you didn’t know if you were going to kick properly again, but thankfully it worked out in the end.”He was just returning from injury when Cluxton made a shock Dublin comeback in the middle of the 2023 season.Comerford didn’t make any championship appearances between 2023-2025. Another test of patience. But when Cluxton moved to the role of coach for the 2026 campaign, it opened the way for a battle between his understudies for the jersey.The mythology that surrounds the position of goalkeeper in Dublin is not something Comerford has chosen to ignore either. From 1967 until 2021 the number one jersey more or less belonged to only four players – Paddy Cullen, John O’Leary, Davy Byrne and Cluxton. “I kind of sum that up with one sentence: with great privilege comes great responsibility,” he says. Evan Comerford at the launch of the Dublin alternative jersey at Parnell Park. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho “The privilege of pulling on that jersey, being the closest man to Hill 16 for half a game, is massive. It’s a real honour to break out from the huddle, jog down to the goal and just see the colour and hear the noise. “But I know that there’s a massive responsibility with that too and that you’re holding up a lot of hopes, a lot of dreams for a lot of those supporters. “That’s something I probably didn’t appreciate when I first started out, but certainly in the last couple of years I’ve really grown to know that it is a massive privilege. It is a dream to be in there and I want to make sure the body goes for as long as it possibly can. “But the reality is each year there’s two or three other fellas who have that dream too. Like at the minute we’ve Hugh O’Sullivan and Gavin Sheridan, both excellent goalkeepers. “All of us probably could sit here and say we want 10-15 more years as number one, but if I’m not performing the best on kick-outs or on shot-stopping, someone else is going to get it. “I do romanticise that idea and I do dream of that, but I’m acutely aware that there is consistent work to be done.”– Comerford was speaking at the launch of Dublin’s new alternative jersey for the 2027 season.