THE PRE-MATCH CHATTER in Croke Park revolved around one man.

As Louth pulled away from Offaly in extra-time of their preceding Leinster senior football semi-final, news filtered through of three changes to the Dublin starting team to face Kildare.

John Small for Seán MacMahon, Tom Lahiff for Jack McCaffrey, and the big one — Stephen Cluxton for David O’Hanlon.

Cluxton made a dramatic return to the inter-county scene in March, named on the bench for Dublin’s Division 2 league clash with Louth.

David O’Hanlon remained between the posts for Dessie Farrell’s side until yesterday, when the six-time All-Star and former captain was parachuted in for his 110th championship appearance.

It was Cluxton’s first showing since the 2020 All-Ireland final, when he captained his county to an historic six in-a-row.

“I thought he played well,” Farrell reflected on the legendary goalkeeper’s performance in the closer than expected 0-14 to 0-12 victory.

“Obviously we’ve had challenges with goalkeepers in terms of injuries over the last number of months. Evan [Comerford] is still working his way back to fitness. David O’Hanlon had a very good league campaign, very happy with him in the opener against Laois as well.

“But we just felt it was time to try Stephen and give him some exposure and game time. If anything happened to David, you could be in trouble there. So now is a good time to do it.”

With McCaffrey and Paul Mannion others to have made returns to the panel this season, Farrell explained that it was always the plan to bring the former on at half time.

The Clontarf flier popped up with a crucial point as Dublin kept their 13 in-a-row Leinster bid intact.

He also confirmed that Mannion’s 57th-minute withdrawal was due to cramp. The Kilmacud Crokes star finished with three points from play and was the Dubs’ main man in the first half.

“We obviously want to get as much gametime into Jack and Paul as we possibly can. We probably didn’t get as much gametime into them through the National League as we would have wanted because of injuries and what not, these games offer us the opportunity to do that.”

“It’s been really positive,” Farrell continued on the group’s response to the returning trio. 

Dessie Farrell during the game. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO

“Obviously, a wealth of experience and some great leadership qualities. We have such a flock of youngsters in the mix at the minute, that having some of that experience and those elder lemons about is really, really important. They guide and nurture some of the younger players.

“In the last two seasons we’ve something like 22 new players, which is a significant change in terms of the squad set-up. Out of a panel of 36, 37, that’s a big number. Having fellas come back into the mix that have that type of exposure with so many young players around can only be helpful.”

Mick Fitzsimons, Farrell added, is set for a return to the set-up “very soon” after taking some time out oweing to exams and injury.

On the performance against Kildare in general, the Na Fianna man reflected: “We were definitely flat at times, just just off-colour with certain dimensions of the game. But very happy with the grittiness, determination and spirit that we showed at the end to be able to dig it out.

“It definitely grounds players who may need grounding. I’m not saying they do, but it brings everything back to earth with a bang.

“The reality is they’re the types of games that you’re going to encounter as you move on. They’re going to go down to the wire, there’ll be clutch moments, big decisions to be made and big balls to be won. You really want to experience that, particularly with a lot of our young fellas that we have in the mix — that’s the litmus test and the more exposure they can get to that, the better.”

Next up is Louth in the Leinster final on 14 May.