Defeat to Donegal like ‘a bereavement’, says Dublin’s Paul Flynn

Time has dulled the pain, a little, but crashing out of last year’s All-Ireland championship to Donegal, tormented Paul Flynn like "a bereavement in the family".

Dublin’s All-Star half-forward pulled no punches about the pain of relinquishing the Sam Maguire Cup to an unfancied Donegal side they’ll meet all over again this Saturday evening.

The Croke Park rematch in Round 2 of the Allianz league will bring the hurt flooding back to Flynn, who was as helpless as anyone to prevent Donegal’s second-half onslaught in August’s All-Ireland semi-final.