When the story of Dublin's 2023 All-Ireland win is told, it will likely begin with an urgent meeting on the fringes of a hotel dancefloor in the small hours of the night at James McCarthy's wedding party.
The story will likely be recounted via written word rather than the medium of Netflix or what-have-you - the Dubs haven't gone in for the fly-on-the-wall stuff since Pillar's days in charge.
There was an unusually wistful air around Croker in the aftermath of this, Dublin's seventh All-Ireland win in nine years.
During the peak Jim Gavin years in the latter part of the last decade, there was a fairly businesslike feel to Dublin's remorseless victories, the manager at the time very much taking the lead in conveying that. Back in those days, there was no end in sight to Dublin's dominance.
In stark contrast, there was a nearly valedictory feel to yesterday's victory.
Without anticipating the next few months, the vibe of the evening was less 'Empire Strikes Back' and more 'Empire just wanted to have one more conquest for the road'.
It was at McCarthy's wedding last Christmas, with the Dublin football family gathered, that they decided to "get a few lads back" as the groom/team captain put it.
"We were ferociously disappointed the last two seasons. They hurt. They really did hurt," the nine-times blessed midfielder said on Sunday.
"But we gathered at the start of the year. We'd a bit of a chat at the wedding and we said we'd try and get a few boys back.
"And they made a big difference as well."
Most of the clamour focused on the two vaunted members of the 1993 brigade - the crop of players born that year who had propelled much of Dublin's success in the 2010s.
Paul Mannion, badly missed in the 2022 campaign, was the least surprising returnee.
Then word filtered through that Jack McCaffrey, whose self-imposed exile from the panel was announced in the empty summer of 2020, was coming back.
Most startling of all however was Cluxton, who appeared without warning back in the squad as a sub keeper before the final home league game against Louth. The lack of fanfare was almost brazen.
His return made Michael Jordan's 1995 'I'm back' press release look needlessly wordy.
The Dubs publicised his return in their usual fashion, at the back end of a routine Dubs TV interview in advance of the game, another masterpiece of lede burying. (They were following the protocol Jim Gavin had established in 2019 when announcing Diarmuid Connolly's return).
Initially, he was ushered into the starting XV on the basis that he needed some gametime in case David O'Hanlon got injured.
This rationale, which never sounded terribly convincing to begin with, was quietly shelved and simply not referred to again. Cluxton was back and that was that.
Suddenly, Dublin resembled the team of 2019 again.
"There was plenty of conversations in the background," said Dessie Farrell, in Sunday's post All-Ireland press conference.
"But ultimately the players wanted to. I'd never force the agenda.
"I was always talking to the three lads when they moved away. It was never a case of the door being closed. But they needed to be ready themselves.
"Obviously having seen how the thing had gone the last two years and is being beaten by the tightest of margins.
"Understanding that the strength in depth may not been what it once was. While the young fellas were great, they were still maybe a year or two off the level of development that you need in the clutch moments at the biggest stage of the year.
"So, I've no doubt there's that level of selflessness in them all. And the care they have for the group flipped the balance in our favour and meant they were much more amenable to coming back."
Fast forward to the end of year and Cluxton is even back to traipsing out the field to stroke over long range frees. Although, as Farrell and McCarthy note, he wasn't moving forward fast. Has to be more mindful of the condition of his knees these days.
McCarthy: "Two kicks in the first half, he just stroked them over. Amazing.
Farrell: "It was like rolling back the clock, wasn't it?... It took him a while to get up and a while to get back, mind you.
McCarthy: "The knee is bandaged nowadays. So, he's a bit slower. He used to compete with us in sprints when I started off. Steely, steely tough man. The standards and how he drives everyone. He gives you great comfort behind. He's one of a kind."
The man most responsible for transforming kickouts from a humble restart into something worthy of painstaking analysis hadn't worsened on the front in his two years out of county football.
"There were times we tried to press the kick and we didn't have a whole pile of joy in it," admitted Jack O'Connor afterwards.
Cluxton was uncharacteristically smiley and willing to pose for post-match photographs in the aftermath of his latest triumph, perhaps liberated from the chore of delivering a victory speech. Though he'd no speech to make in 2011 and he famously hot-tailed it down the tunnel as soon as possible. The vibe was different after the 2023 title.
"He's a happy man, you know," confirms Farrell.
"To be away and come back again. They say there's no such thing as fairytale endings in sport. But it was a little bit like a dream come true alright."
