Bernard Brogan has admitted that Dublin's shock All-Ireland SFC semi-final loss to Donegal was the worst he has experienced in football.

Speaking at the launch of this year's Sky Sports Living for Sport scheme yesterday, the former Footballer of the Year revealed that the defeat is still very raw and that he hasn't been able to muster the courage to watch the DVD yet.

"It hurts more when you feel like you've left something behind," he said.

"I think if you go out into a game and you give it everything and get beaten on the day - you don't get the bounce of a ball - that's grand. But I think when we went out against Donegal, we would have felt that we left a lot behind.

"Personally, I felt disappointed missing a couple of kicks. I just felt we didn't ask them enough questions. We kind of petered off at the end of the game and never really pushed them come the end.

"To lose going down fighting is one thing, but I felt we left too much on the pitch. I haven't watched it back, I haven't had the courage."

As much as he admires Jim McGuinness and what he has done for Donegal, Brogan doesn't think the style of football he preached is good for the game.

"I wouldn't be the biggest fan of that style of football because I have to play against it, it's very difficult," he continued.

"But no, I know it has a lot of critics but, in fairness, I think what he did, he did the best with what he could and people say he didn't have a team of superstars he had a team of good footballers who were going to work for a cause and he got them to buy into that cause. He did a great job.

"I wouldn't be a great fan of the really defensive football. As a kid, I wanted to go out and try to play football and pit myself against my man and have a go at a team so when you're trying to do that and there's three lads around you it makes it a bit more difficult.

"When someone has success with a system or a style of football it feeds down. I know in 2011 everyone was applauding Dublin and saying 'oh, you've saved football and if they'd have gone on to beat us that day the game would have gone into disrepute and blah, blah, blah.'

"I don't know if it goes that far but the standard 15, toe-to-toe, man-on-man is the way football was started and is the way I like to play it the best."

 

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