Milk It For All It's Worth - Bryan's Blog
GAA Player Bryan Cullen has penned his second blog for the'National Dairy Council - Milk It For All It's Worth Campaign', read on to find out how he got on, on his marketing day for the campaign....
A week has passed since the curtains came down on our championship campaign and the sense of what might have been continues to linger. It’s just over two years since we tasted our previous championship defeat at the hands of Cork and the experience of a loser’s dressing room, which until 2011 had become an annual occurrence for a Dublin footballer, was back. Players trundled back to the dressing room with their heads down and the celebrations of Mayo supporters ringing in our ears. There we just sat in silence trying to come to terms with exiting the championship.
Having stumbled in to a semi-final without exactly setting the championship alight, we knew it would take a performance akin to the 2011 quarter final victory over Tyrone to prevail, which unfortunately continued to evade us. Mayo were the better side on the day and fully deserved their victory, which in the absence of the injured Andy Moran and exiled Conor Mortimer was particularly impressive. The game was lost in the ten minutes before and after half time. Mayo cruised in to a 9 point lead as we struggled to get on pressure on their free flowing style of football. In fairness to our lads they never stopped and we came very close to snatching a victory, which on the balance of play might have been unfair but we certainly would have taken it!
In the wake of our defeat, Pat Gilroy moved swiftly to announce he would not be taking the reins next season. I know I speak on behalf of the players in expressing a huge thank you to Pat and his management team for their efforts over the last four seasons. Pat has made a huge contribution to Dublin football having delivered All-Ireland titles as a player in ’95 and last year as a manager. Dublin football is in a healthy state thanks to the work of Pat and his team, which coupled with the underage success at U21 level, should make for an exciting few years ahead for Dublin players and supporters.
Last week’s marketing day for the NDC’s ‘Milk it for all it’s worth’ campaign offered a nice escape from discussing football. The day started with a photo shoot before heading in to studio with Rob Kearney and Easky Britton to record a radio ad for the campaign. We all cringed at the sound of our own voices so it took a few takes but we got there in the end. I’ll be recharging the batteries over the next few weeks after a long season and have planned a few days in the sun to coincide with All-Ireland final weekend. I’ve always found it hard to watch games following a defeat and hope the hype will have settled down by the time I return, although I wouldn’t bet on it!