'You might never really get over it' Galway star on All-Ireland final loss
Cillian McDaid has processed last year's All-Ireland final loss, but he's not sure he'll ever get over it.
Having won three-in-a-row in Connacht, scored a first Championship win over Dublin in 90 years and seen off a fancied Donegal side to reach a second final in three years, Galway were fancied only to be edged out in an extremely tight final by Armagh.
In the close season, the panel sat down collectively to go through the game and they took whatever lessons they could from it. But there was nothing in that exercise to dull the pain.
"Look, I suppose it'll be there forever,' said McDaid. 'It's a tough one to get over and you might never really get over it.
'It's one of those big games where you didn't get over the line but we reviewed it and we went through it as a team. You kind of have to park it then.
'Once you're happy and you know where you went wrong and you know where you need to improve, I think that's enough. The year before, we were knocked out by Mayo in a preliminary quarter-final. That's a tough one to deal with too, at home in a game like that.
'I suppose every year you don't win it, there's a big game you've lost that's tough to get over and you deal with it at the time. Games come around quickly so there are plenty of other things to be disappointed about this year already."
Staying with All-Ireland final defeats for a moment, however, McDaid said that last year's loss cut deeper than the one to Kerry two years earlier.
"Yeah, I'd say it did. They were both pretty bad, pretty tough, but maybe the second time around, having been there before, maybe the distractions leading up to it that people would say, we didn't really have that and we were very focused on the game.
'But at the end of the day, if you don't take your chances, you won't win the game. That's kind of what happened."
Still, albeit he's had more than his fair share of injury problems over the years and this year enjoyed the rarity of a clean run at the League, he's still sampled some big days playing with Galway in recent years, which leaves him with no regrets over his decision to return from Australia in 2018 after a stint with AFL club, Carlton.
'No, no regrets, like. No, look, it probably took to go out there to realise how much I want to play for Galway and when I came back Galway probably weren't competing in the latter stages of the Championships so the best days of my life so far have been playing for Galway in Championship games so there's not really anything that can replace that at the minute anyway.'
There's another big day coming this weekend as Galway face Mayo in the Connacht final. McDaid had yet to return from long-term injury for the corresponding fixture in Salthill last year but he says the dramatic fashion in which they won the game was the turning point in their season.
'Going into injury time I think we were three points down so the writing was on the wall. We were going to lose a Connacht final at home to probably our biggest rivals and it kickstarted our season.
'I think that day Shane [Walsh], John Maher and Mattie Tierney all came off the bench so we were starting to get a few bodies back and starting to really strengthen up our team and our panel. So it was a bit of a kickstart for us.
'Mayo are always going to be there or thereabouts in every Championship and every league campaign, so if you're able to beat them in a Championship game especially, you're never going to be far off.'
There's plenty of history at stake this Sunday as Galway chase a first Connacht four-in-a-row since the county's most celebrated team achieved it from 1963-66, while they haven't lost to Mayo in Castlebar in the Championship in 11 years now.
'But we've been beaten at home a few times,' McDaid countered. 'We've lost Connacht finals in 2017, '19, and '20 at home, and '21 in Croke Park, and we've lost at home to them last year in the League so, look, anywhere you play them it'll be tough.
'You remember when you lose at home, I tell you that. You remember them well.'
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