Cian O'Sullivan says that you can sometimes learn more valuable lessons in defeat than victory.
The versatile Kilmacud Crokes defender returned to the Dublin colours for last Saturday night's FL Division 1 victory over Mayo in Croke Park as the Dubs bounced back from their narrow defeat against a high-flying Kerry in the previous round.
“Any defeat stings," said Cian. “Any time you lose it's not nice. I think, you know, absolutely zero complaints, Kerry were by far the better team.
“The fashion in which we finished out the game in the last 10 or 20 minutes glossed over the scoreboard a little bit. And Kerry seem to be going really well, they had another good victory against Galway at the weekend.
“For us, trying to take the learnings out of that game and you try to take positives out of these things, any team I've been involved with in Dublin since I've started playing, it's the defeats you learn way more from than the victories.
“Because it gives you really good cause to pause and reflect and work on things," he added.
"I look back to 2009 when we were defeated by Kerry and then Cork in 2010 and Donegal in 2014.
“They were all really good learning exercises for the team, albeit the defeat at the time was really tough to take.
“I think the team was a much better team from coming out the other side of them.
"With any defeat you're looking to try to see can you take that positive out of it and make this team a better unit going forward.”
Cian O'Sullivan was at Parnell Park today to launch AIG Dub Club Health. The Heart Safety Roadshow is the first programme in the initiative that will provide training around CPR, choking, defibrillator/AED usage, storage and maintenance. Go to https://www.aig.ie/our-sponsorships/dublin-gaa/dub-club-health to find out more.