The ones that got away…

‘At the time you were thinking, especially starting out in 2004 to say 2008, we had a lot of players who had won All-Ireland medals in 2001. The talk at that time wasn’t just about winning Connacht titles. The guys who had won so much were thinking they were in it for one more AllIreland.

‘It was probably a hindrance to us because we were thinking we could go to the Holy Grail again. I was hanging on to the likes of Ja [Fallon], Padraic [Joyce], Michael [Donnellan], Kieran Fitzgerald who had won before. I was thinking “They are going to drag us and bring us to the top again.” That losing a couple of Connacht finals wasn’t the end of the world.

‘Now I’m looking back thinking we could have two or three more.’