Niamh O'Sullivan insists that back to back All-Ireland champions Meath are still on the rise and can absorb the losses of key players in 2023.
Vikki Wall, Orlaith Lally and Emma Troy have been top performers for the Royals and all three are heading to Australia - Wall and Lally to start AFLW careers while Troy is taking an extended break.
O'Sullivan, who scored 1-2 in last Sunday's All-Ireland senior Ladies final victory over Kerry, has seen it all in the green and gold, from the low moments to the highs of the last three years and three All-Ireland triumphs at Croke Park.
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She expresses confidence that the Royals can carry on winning despite the absence of that star trio.
"Oh yeah, 100%," stated the veteran corner-forward. "That's why you have a panel of 38 girls.
"Look, we wish those girls all the best. But at this moment in time we're focusing on the win, the celebrations and Meath.
"Whatever decisions people make is for the future, we won't be talking about it any time soon.
"There were eight girls there on Sunday who weren't named on the panel and they're young girls - you have the likes of Ciara Smyth, Orlaith Mallon, Ciara Gilsenan, they drive us as much as the other girls at training.
"If this group sticks together, which I think it will, we're a very close group. You could see it on the pitch afterwards.
"We meet up outside of football as well and yeah, look, there will be changes but we're not going to focus on that just yet.
“Even seeing the Kepak jerseys (around), seeing young fellas and girls wearing it is fantastic. I think if we’re encouraging boys and girls to be playing football, that’s what we want to do.
“As long as we’re successful, it’s going to be more appetising for the young kids to play.
"Yeah, Meath are on the rise, that’s for sure. We won’t be going anywhere soon."
O'Sullivan also starred in last year's first-ever senior final win when Meath beat Dublin.
In 2020, they made a massive breakthrough in getting over the final in the Intermediate decider against Westmeath having lost the previous two deciders.
Asked if two years ago she would have believed the Royals would be back to back senior champions now, the 32-year-old replied, "definitely not", but added those losing experiences were vital to Meath becoming the country's best side.
"Look, when we lost in 2018 and 2019, it was hard, but I think everything happens for a reason. I'm a firm believer in that," she said.
"I think it was the best thing for us and you learn from those losses, and look where we are today.
"Everyone stood up to the plate. What a game on Sunday, what a performance and two in a row, who would have believed it?
"I think we hit the nail on the head with that with winning the League at the start of the year.
"We forgot all about that, 'one hit wonder' or whatever people were saying about us.
"People were saying we looked leggy against Galway, we looked tired, we weren't the team we were - but look, that just motivated us more to drive on and we were just focused on ourselves.
"Our motivation was always to get back to Croke Park and once we got back it was like, 'OK let’s put in a performance'.
"I think that was our best performance to date."
Reflecting on the journey that put Meath on top, O'Sullivan admitted that initially it was a shock to the system to adopt the defensive tactics that have proved so successful under Eamonn Murray.
“At the start, you kind of just want to go out and play football," she said.
"But the lads, there’s a method behind their madness. It paid off there. They did their tactics, did their research and they drilled it into us.
“It made training enjoyable and we just want to play for them.
"Whatever tactics they think will help us win, we’ll go with that. We just want to work for each other."
And she paid tribute to the work done throughout the year by the team's psychologist, Kelley Faye.
"We don't panic," stressed O'Sullivan.
"We knew teams were going to watch us inside out, watch individual players inside out, and as All-Ireland champions you have to be ready for that.
"We're so blessed to have a management team like this but resilience is a massive part of this team. We stick to the game plan no matter what and we did that on Sunday."
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