League of Ireland stalwart Alan Cawley was in awe as three Dublin GAA legends took to the field in Shelbourne colours for a charity soccer match over the weekend.
Stephen Cluxton appeared for a Shelbourne XI alongside the recently retired duo of James McCarthy and Brian Fenton against Killester Donnycarney FC in the Annette Howlett Cup in aid of Breast Cancer Ireland.
Cluxton and Fenton formed a partnership in central defence for the Shels side as McCarthy slotted into midfield, with the team fleshed out with a number of ex-LOI players.
They managed a 6-3 win and afterwards, Cawley claimed the Dublin trio could have forged careers in football if they had kept at it instead of going down the route of GAA.
‘We were kind of totting up, I think it’s 25 All-Ireland medals that they have between them yet they were so humble, so modest,’ he told the Irish Mirror. ‘Brian Fenton was like a Rolls Royce at the back, really, really good in terms of the athleticism that we all know, but very good on the ball as well. He played centre-half.
‘Cluxton played left-sided centre-half and, again, something similar, they were in great condition, great shape but his distribution, like what we see in Gaelic, passing out from the back, and James played in midfield with us.
— Brian Fenton (@BrianFenton08) December 14, 2024
‘I remember at one stage after we scored the fourth or fifth goal and I was coming back to the centre circle and I said to Brian and Stephen, ‘Lads, ye know that if ye packed in the Gaelic, there’s plenty of soccer teams that would have ye!’ And that’s the truth. They could play.
‘I have no doubt whatsoever if they were dedicated to soccer over the years they would have had a career in soccer as well, they were that good.
‘We’re maybe looking at it with a soccer head on but you look at the condition the three boys were in, for amateurs as well, it’s phenomenal.’