Mayo's Alan Dillon is enjoying his retirement and admits there was no fairytale ending to his inter-county career after hanging his boots up recently.
The two-time All-Star joined Emmet Bolton and Brian Kavanagh on this week's Saturday Panel on Off the Ball and speaking to Nathan Murphy, he said: "It does cross your mind when you have them big days in Croke Park. I suppose this year, of all the years, when we sat in preparation for the All-Ireland final, at the back of my mind I always thought 'this is it' and you're sitting beside your teammates who have sweated and spit blood for you and the roar of 82,000 people when you run out on that big day - you appreciate where you are.
"You know, unfortunately it didn't have that fairytale ending and I suppose that was really, really tough and it did hit me hard when I went down and talk to my parents, talked to my wife about it and let them know - and once I let them know - it became a bit easier.
"I got the county board, the PRO, the treasurers and once it was made public - I was really taken aback by the amount of messages and good will. It's something that when you start out on it - you never think it's going to end and once you step off the stage you're known as a 'former player' and that takes a bit of getting used to.
"Just similar to what Emmet has said - you think you're playing at a high standard but there's a younger bunch of lads coming through who have that extra bit of pace and power and that's how the game has gone over the last number of years," he added.
The full Saturday Panel Podcast is available here:
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
