By John Harrington

Stephen Cluxton made a dramatic return to the Dublin panel for today’s Allianz Football League Division 2 clash with Louth in Croke Park.

To a mixture of shock and excitement among the Dublin faithful at Headquarters, the 41-year old was a late addition to his team’s bench for the game.

The eight-time All-Ireland winner hasn’t played for Dublin since the 2020 All-Ireland Final and by now it was presumed he had retired from inter-county football even though he’d never officially announced it.

In Cluxton’s absence Evan Comerford became Dublin’s first-choice goalkeeper, but injury has ruled him out of this year’s League so David Hanlon has been the man between the posts for all of Dublin’s seven League matches.

With Cluxton now back in the mix, it’ll be very interesting to see who will wear the number one jersey for the championship.