The words of Kilmacud Crokes manager Robbie Brennan were some comfort in the aftermath of last season's All-Ireland SFC club final.
The Stillorgan side were undone at the death in extra-time by a Jerome Johnston goal that saw Kilcoo claim a maiden title.
Kilmacud forward Shane Horan remembers the aftermath and the few words uttered by the manager.
Ahead of this Sunday's Leinster final against The Downs, he told RTÉ Sport: "In the changing room everyone was obviously quite down but Robbie said something like 'the next final is in 12 months and we'll be back here'. That's all he needed to say at the time and that's all that was said."
"We left Croke Park, went back to the club, back to our families and kind of forgot about it, to be honest. A lot of lads took a bit of time off and then regrouped in April/May and rebuilt through the summer then. And then when we hit July we knew we had to focus again and look at our three-game blocks and each game as it came because Dublin is so tough and it took so long for a lot of guys including me to get a Dublin title.
"You know how hard it is so I think we were sharp from the start because of that."
Kilmacud are now two steps away from securing another All-Ireland final date, but first will look to claim a sixth provincial crown against the Westmeath champions at Croke Park, this after the club's hurler's go for a first Leinster crown against Ballyhale Shamrocks.
Heady days indeed.
And while the 'superclub' narrative is often attached to the Crokes, Horan points to the level of volunteerism that has them so competitive on a lot of fronts.
"I understand what people are saying but at the end of the day, it's the same GAA volunteers bringing teams out, the same parents out lining pitches," he said.
"While the numbers are larger obviously, to be honest, I couldn't imagine trying to organise our nursery. That'd be a real headache.
"The last couple of weeks, with ourselves, the hurlers, and the Ladies footballers training on our pitches, I thought things would be dead quiet, but we still had parents out at an U21 camogie game. The parents were out lining pitches for that. So every team is the same and has the same people behind it."
Kilmacud's cause this season has been given an extra boost with the arrival of Shane Walsh. On that addition, Horan welcomes "a new set of eyes" to play alongside.
"When it was first announced, you're kind of excited. Obviously there's a part of you that's fearful about another lad coming into the forwards. When you're playing in the forward line with him, and I always go back to Paul Mannion (currently out injured) with this, the other backs have to be wary of those two guys and it gives the rest of us a little bit more space to do a bit of damage.
"If even our defender has to focus away at all, it buys you a bit of time. Additionally, his training and his thoughts from his time with Galway, tactically he's quite good. It's a different set of eyes. We had a set group for a while there where we saw things the same way. To get a new set of eyes in for how we press a kick, or how we shape up in attack, it's good to have him involved from that perspective."
And it seems the player, who transferred from the Kilkerrin-Clonberne club in Galway, has embeeded himself well with his new surroundings.
"I've been around the club and the team long enough, we always have people from the country who are moving up to Dublin for work. As long as they meet the criteria of the club and are committing to the area and not coming for one season and moving on.
"He's come along and it's well documented that he's embedded himself well [with the Crokes]. He's coming along to hurling matches, Ladies games, and meeting up for food and coffee. He couldn't have made more of an effort and we're happy to have him."
And so to Sunday's assignment against opposition who edged out Ratoath by the bare minimum in the semi-final, while Crokes were comprehensive winners over Portarlington.
A hint of fortune about it, but it's a great start for Kilmacud Crokes as Andy McGowan grabs a goal against Portarlington.
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) November 19, 2022
Live now on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player - https://t.co/j90jEuigvs pic.twitter.com/MFd3OFwTEf
For Horan, it was a case of getting the job done the last day, no matter how good or bad the game was, with focus then switching to the challenge The Downs will present.
"People were giving out saying our game was boring but we knew how good Portarlington were. Last year, we thought they were one of the better teams we played and we had to be ready for it.
"So we tried to control it as much as we could, and it went exactly to plan. But that's how we would have approached the other two teams in the semi-finals as well: aggressive, athletic teams. So we just have to do our stuff but then obviously tweak it whoever we’re playing against.
"Whether it’s man on man jobs or different tactical things to do. We have done a good bit of video analysis on them. Obviously they’re used to Croke Park after that last game. So we’ll just have to use our experience of being there a bit more to see out the game."
