For Dublin hurling, the high point at the turn of the 2010s now feels far away.
Under former manager Anthony Daly they had become league champions in 2011, before winning the Leinster Championship in 2013 and also reached the All Ireland semi finals that year.
This year, Leinster is no longer a target after Galway eliminated them on Sunday in a 2-28 to 1-17 scoreline in the provincial quarter finals, following on some recent disappointing campaigns and high player turnover for Ger Cunningham's panel.
Dublin county board chairman Sean Shanley joined Off The Ball to discuss the current situation, acknowledging that Sunday's result was "very disappointing" after some "steady improvement" as the league progressed.
Touching on the high turnover of players in recent years, Shanley said: "Most of them, as far as I understand, were let go basically because they had gotten too slow and new manager were looking for fast, speedy players. And that looked a lot then with the players that opted out for one reason or another, who management wanted to stay.
"It's a concern but I suppose it's looking to the future now. I'd prefer us going the best team today rather than the team for the future. You need to be there or thereabouts and blooding one or two players every year."
He also said that he had spoken with some of the players and backroom staff members who had opted out in recent years, citing feedback about "different ways of doing things, different personalities. They didn't agree with the way Ger was doing it".
Cunningham's future is now the subject of speculation due to the situation with the Dublin hurlers.
When asked if he was disappointed with the job that has been done, Shanley responded: "I've said it before that we don't tend to sack managers in Dublin. We tend to put them in for their term and you leave them their for the term. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but when you put someone in to do a job, that's it. He does the best he can and Ger has worked hard and brought on a lot of young players which will be good for the future of Dublin."
Overall, he described the situation as a "small setback and not huge".
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