Former Dublin footballer Cian O'Sullivan believes that Dublin's recent missteps in the All-Ireland Football Championship will provide ample motivation ahead of their game against Monaghan this weekend.
As a former player who secured eight All-Ireland titles during his time with Dublin, O'Sullivan understands the significance of setbacks and the potential it can hold for inspiring a team's resurgence in a quest for Sam Maguire.
Dublin, a dominant force in Gaelic football, is set to face off against Monaghan in Croke Park this weekend. With their previous track record, Dublin are widely expected to secure victory and progress to the final. However, in the past couple of years, Dublin has experienced a regression, failing to reach the final after suffering defeats in the All-Ireland semi-finals against Mayo in 2022 and Kerry in 2021.
Drawing upon his wealth of experience, O'Sullivan firmly believes that these defeats and the subsequent criticisms can serve as powerful motivators for the current Dublin team in 2023. In an interview with The Irish Mirror, O'Sullivan shared his insights, saying, "Yeah, and that's what I think makes it so intriguing for me. I'm not part of the group anymore, so I have no clue how they're framing this season."
Reflecting on the team's approach, O'Sullivan wondered if they were utilising the past defeats and negative opinions to fuel their determination. He noted that in previous setups, the team would have disregarded such external distractions. However, he recognized that there is now energy to be harnessed from those setbacks and criticisms. O'Sullivan pondered whether the current Dublin team was leveraging this energy, saying,"
“Are they using that? In previous set-ups we would have completely ignored all that stuff in the past.
“That was a distraction whereas now there is energy to be gained off that, there definitely is, so are they using that? I don’t know. We’ll see.”
🏆 All Ireland S E M I F I N A L🏆
⚪️🔵Monaghan Vs ⚫️🔵Dublin
📆 Saturday the 15th of July 2023
🕞5:30pm
📍Croke Park #AllBoroFloorServiceNY @MonaghanGaaNYC #monaghangaa2023 pic.twitter.com/iL4t4BhPGN— @monaghangaa (@monaghangaa) July 12, 2023
Cian O'Sullivan
There is reason to believe that Dublin's recent victory against Mayo in their previous outing may be a driving force for them. During that match, Dublin delivered a stunning second-half performance, dismantling the reigning League champions and showcasing their best football in years. Many have doubted whether Dublin still possessed the ability to produce such a formidable display
"There’s every chance that they are going by their last outing against Mayo, as they blew the League champions away with a second half showing in which they arguably played their best football in a number of years - a performance that many doubted was still in them.
“I think everyone was hoping and expecting to see that,” added O’Sullivan. "Mayo were hotly tipped after going down to Killarney against Kerry having won the League, they looked very very good and it was hard to know when the last time Dublin beat them by that margin.
“To beat them by that, that’s a real signal about the capacity in this Dublin team.”
Kick-off is scheduled for 4p.m. this evening,
