Cian O'Sullivan remembers his Dublin debut as being a "harsh reality check".

Then manager Pat Gilroy likened the Dubs to 'startled earwigs' after they suffered a 17-point drubbing at the hands of Kerry in the 2009 All-Ireland SFC quarter-final. The defeat didn't sit well with some supporters who took out their frustrations by rocking the team bus and banging on the windows as it left Croke Park.

O'Sullivan has since pocketed four All-Ireland medals, but the events of seven years ago have made him appreciate them more than most.

"Some of the other guys in the team haven't been around in the bad days. My first game in 2009, we were beaten by Kerry in the quarters by 17 points," he said.

"The infamous 'startled earwigs' - that was my debut. That was only seven years ago. Two years later and we were lifting Sam. A lot can change in a very short space of time. It's something I'm very conscious of and the lads are very conscious of.

"It's a bit humiliating. It was harsh reality check that, leaving the stadium, we were booed ... there were people coming up and rocking the bus and banging on the bus and roaring and shouting in at the players.

"It wasn't toppling over or anything," he stressed. "When you're driving out after games there's still loads of people on the streets and, yeah, there were a few disgruntled fans. Wherever you go, fans are very passionate.

"They're passionate when they win, which is great, and equally when you lose and when you turn up and have a pathetic performance like that, like we did, they're going to be annoyed so that's just par for the course.

"We thought going into that game in 2009 that we were flying. By all reports we were, so I guess it was going learning in that you don't listen to the externals. You kind of have to look in the mirror and that's your reality there. So we learnt a lot from that and thankfully we didn't let it stop us."

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