39 years old and out at centre back, Stephen Cluxton looks fit as a fiddle

Maybe this whole thing is much simpler than we think.

Maybe, just like every goalkeeper in Ireland, Stephen Cluxton has notions and reckons he'd lord it at centre back. Dessie Farrell isn't having it and so here we are, the championship about to take off and Dublin are without their captain and their talisman. All joking aside Stephen Cluxton was playing for the Parnells senior team on Wednesday night, just like he has been for the last few weeks, and by the photos taken by Sportsfile's Piaras Ó Mídheach, he looked like he was enjoying himself out there. It's no strange thing for Cluxton to play out the field for his club, he has done for years. But what is strange is for a 39-year-old to present themselves in the shape Stephen Cluxton does, lean as a rake and fit as a fiddle. Parnells defeated O'Toole's by 2-14 to 0-13 if as Dessie Farrell says he's taking time to heal the body, the body certainly looks healed at this stage.

The trusted left

Some set of shoulders

Put it up

Picking the pass

Lucky man