O'Sullivan: New motivations fuelling Dessie's Dubs

When Cian O'Sullivan stepped away from inter-county football in 2021, Dublin were six-in-a-row All-Ireland champions.

The men from the capital, in Dessie Farrell’s first year in charge, simply continued where they left off under Jim Gavin as the kingpins of the game.

The Kilmacud Crokes man bowed out with eight All-Ireland medals to his name, and while he didn’t play a single minute in the Covid-impacted championship of 2020 as injuries took their toll, it appeared that there was no end in sight to blue domination.

Fast forward two years and the picture is somewhat different. Back-to-back All-Ireland semi-final defeats were sandwiched by relegation to Division 2 football as the air of invincibility has evaporated.

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Contenders certainly, but inevitable champions? Not quite.

The quarter-final demolition of old foes Mayo was a step in the right direction, but speaking ahead of the AIB All-Ireland football championship semi-final against Monaghan on Saturday (live on RTÉ2), O’Sullivan concedes what is driving the current crop is not what fuelled Dublin in their pomp under Gavin.

"When we were winning multiple All-Irelands, we were in a different space trying to achieve something," he told RTÉ Sport.

"That hunger, motivation that was there when I was involved is completely different. It’s a different prospect now.

"Are the guys trading off that hunger drawn from those losses (2021 and 2022)? I suspect they are.

"That’s not something we would ever have traded off when I was involved,