‘Hardest game I’ve ever played’

Groggy from the rigours of what he hailed as “the hardest game I have ever played“, Paul Flynn was nothing like the sober man we met after the 2011 final.

Having come through a game when he was hampered by a hamstring injury, he elected not to drink alcohol that evening and instead drink in the ecstasy of a first All-Ireland title. Neat.

He imbibed last night, though. “That’s one of my biggest regrets,” he laughed of his decision two years ago.