'After last year, I was gone. Definitely' - Dubs Mick Bohan on staying on and returning to decider

Mick Bohan hadn't envisioned being back here so soon. Certainly not after last year's shock defeat to Donegal in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

But here the Dubs are again, preparing for another All-Ireland final, having, much like the men, experienced two fallow years in 2021 and 2022.

After six years in charge and six All-Ireland finals, exiting after a last-eight game in Carrick-on-Shannon wasn't what Bohan was used to and was almost too much to bear in the aftermath.

"Driving away from that game, I was gone. Definitely," Bohan says of the quarter-final exit last year.

"But sport is funny. I can't even tell you at this point in time what turned it around. I do know as a management team that we felt we let ourselves down that day."

In the aftermath, a number of stars from the four-in-a-row, including Sinead Goldrick, Ciara Trant and Lyndsey Davey - all did step away from squad and it appeared that a transitional phase beckoned.

However, from that low point, they've developed a new-ish team, a blend of old and new. They endured a couple of heavy losses in the league in Tralee and Tuam, as well a championship group phase loss to Kerry in Parnell Park.

They avenged the 2022 loss with a hammering of Donegal in the quarters and then booked their spot in the decider with a blistering attacking display against Cork in Thurles.

Oddly, it was the loss to this week's opponents in Donnycarney that convinced Bohan that the team was developing much quicker than anticipated.

"This year, I would have said to ye at the start of the year that our whole modus operandi was to make this thing competitive again.

"If you'd asked me last November or December were we going to be in this position, I'd have said no. It was just too much all in one go. So