Corofin stalwart Kieran Fitzgerald admitted he didn't appreciate the achievement of winning an All-Ireland medal with Galway as much as he should have back in 2001.

The 34-year-old defender was back in the Croke Park winners enclosure after a 14 year wait on Tuesday and, speaking to The Irish Daily Star, he said: "I haven't been involved in a winning team at Croke Park since '01.

"Slaughtneil started really well, better than us.

"But once we settled down, our midfield got on top and our forwards got motoring. We had a handy day in defence after that."

Fitzgerald and his team-mates emulated the All-Ireland winning Corofin team of 1998 ...

"I watched a lot of their training but I wasn't involved," he recalled. "I came on board in 1999 and started off from there.

"I was 20 when we won in 2001.

"We had some super players, all I did was get a corner-back spot, and was playing football with the likes of Michael Donnellan, Sean Og de Paor, Declan Meehan, Kevin Walsh and those guys.

"They carried me along. I was young then and didn't appreciate it as much.

"The last 24 months, the effort those boys have put in, some of the training has been savage.

"We all had one focus, to get an All-Ireland club medal. Last year was disappointing when we lost to Castlebar in Tuam.

"Ronan Steede and Daithi Burke, both of their fathers played in '98 which is amazing, but I thought they were the bedrock of our win."

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