The news of Alan Dillon's retirement broke on Tuesday morning, as the Mayo man announced that he was calling time on his inter-county career.
After 134 appearances for his county, there's no doubt that the team will miss his experience as they once again prepare to get over the final hurdle and claim the Sam Maguire.
While Mayo do have talent coming through that can try to fill the void, Shane Stapleton and Ger Gilroy turned to the topic of the nous and know-how that older players bring to a panel on Off The Ball:AM this morning.
"It feels to me like there's a culture in a lot of Irish sport where you get over the age of 30 and you're done, you can never contribute anything," Gilroy stated.
"It's ridiculous," Stapleton agreed. "You look at the players that were nominated for All-Stars this year - and certainly that were nominated for Footballer of the Year - Andy Moran, David Clark, Stephen Cluxton. You look in hurling; Kevin Moran, 30, Brick Walsh, 34.
"Tipperary I think have suffered this year from getting rid of some of their players that are in and around 30 or 31 too soon.
"If you look after the player, and look after his training regime, you can keep that experience on," Stapleton added. "Why get rid of someone because they're 31 for a guy who's 19 and has great potential, until that potential has surpassed the experienced guy?"
The level of experience that both sides in the All-Ireland final were able to call on is something that made a difference come the final whistle, as Ger noted.
"You do realise the value of having very experienced players on the field at key moments as opposed to lads who are physically fit, who are going to run all day and know exactly what they're supposed to do when the going is good," Gilroy stated.
"Certainly as you get older, you realise experience is a very undervalued thing."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
