It took a lot for a Galway man to admit it in the wake of their defeat to Tipperary. But then, Michael Lyster is an absolute pro.
After Sunday's quarter-final win for Tipp against the Connacht champions, Lyster, on the Sunday Game, called Liam Kearns' team 'the story of the summer'. That moniker is the least they deserve.
Tipp have been involved in two of this Championship's most enthralling games. In June, while most of the country was beginning to come down with Euro 2016 fever, they knocked Cork out of the Munster Championship. It was their first Munster Championship win against the Rebels in 72 years.
It has been a year of landmark victories for the Tipperary footballers. Progression to the All-Ireland semi-final will mean their first appearance at that stage of the Championship since 1935. Going into the game, Liam Kearns said that he did not use the chance to make history as a motivational factor. Instead, he told his players they had to opportunity to create 'their own tradition'.
When Tipperary's rise is explained, their underage success is often cited as a reason. Last year, they were in an All-Ireland U21 final against Tyrone. It was a game they lost by just a point.
From that team though, they have haemorrhaged players.
Of the starting XV in that final, six players started Sunday's win against Galway but many are also not playing football for Tipperary this season.
Colin O'Riordan, not only Tipperary's but also one of gaelic football's most exciting prospects, made the move to AFL in October. The 2014 Young Footballer of the Year joined Sydney Swans on a two-year rookie deal. O'Riordan's midfield partner for that game was Steven O'Brien. This season, he decided to join the Tipperary hurling panel rather than play football. The two had formed a terrific midfielder partnership - one which looked like it would serve the Premier County for years to come
Three others - Liam Casey, Jason Lonergan and Kevin Fahey - are spending the summer in the US while Ian Fahey is out injured.
O'Brien is not the only player who chose hurling over football. Seamus Kennedy, an All-Ireland minor winner in 2011, also made the decision to play for Michael Ryan instead of Liam Kearns.
Two former Tipperary captains - Paddy Codd and Barry Grogan - also took a step back from intercounty football. Codd led the Tipp footballers for the previous three seasons.
Of course, the story should still be the achievement of the current panel, rather than the absent players. But it's important to put this Tipperary story into its full context.
Back in June, after the win against Cork, even Liam Kearns cited the loss of players and his panel's ability to 'absorb all these blows' as saying a considerable about their character.
