Alan Brogan endured four All-Ireland semi-final defeats before he tasted victory. For a county the size of Dublin and the resources available to them, this statistic is scarcely believable.
The underachieving Dublin side of the late noughties is well documented in GAA circles and their legacy is made all the more bewildering when you take into account how much they dominate football at present.
Speaking at Tuesday's Off The Ball Roadshow in Heuston South Quarter, Brogan explained the mindset of the Dublin players before their All-Ireland success in 2011 and what drove them to the next level.
"We went through our fair share of heartbreak," he said, "In that All-Ireland final against Kerry, there were some very small things that made the difference for us and that changed the complete psyche of that Dublin team.
"Probably another game was beating Tyrone in 2010 and Diarmuid Connolly's seven points that day. That was a huge thing for us to get over that Tyrone team who - maybe were starting to wane a little bit - had been so strong for the previous ten years. That moved our confidence onto the next level as a squad. "
Brogan pointed out that landmark victories Tyrone and Kerry had been the catalyst for change within the Dublin ranks and admitted the team should have been competing with the team with smaller resources than theirs.
"It's the small things that make the difference and you have to just go back to the well again and again, you need different fellas driving [the team] forward.
"All those training sessions, particularly on the dark nights and the half-six sessions that are spoken about [drove us on]. A lot of the older lads would have driven it at the time like myself, Bryan Cullen, Barry Cahill, Tomas Quinn, Jason Sherlock and Ciaran Whelan. They were all great leaders.
"I've often said, it's one of my biggest regrets that the likes of Jason [Sherlock] and Ciaran Whelan didn't win an All-Ireland with us in 2011."
You can listen to Tuesday night's full chat by clicking the podcast below.
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