Joe Canning is on the comeback trail and dreaming of delivering Liam MacCarthy to Galway this summer, though he admits the ferocious intensity of inter-county hurling is increasingly making it a "younger man's game".
The talismanic 28-year-old forward suffered a dreadful hamstring injury in last August's All-Ireland SHC semi-final defeat to Tipperary that required an operation and extensive rehab.
Canning is still in the middle of his recovery, but he's making steady progress, and has eyes on another championship charge.
"You always hope to be there or thereabouts," he told RTÉ Sport.
"Over the last two seasons we haven't been too far away. We're looking forward to it. We believe we can. You need a little bit of luck.
"We don't have a great history of winning All-Irelands. We only have four in Galway. I think people lose perspective on that. We don't have 20 or 30 in our back pocket down through the years. We'll try our best. Hopefully we can get over the line."
The long hard road to full fitness has served as a reminder to Canning of the enormous demands the sport places on its competitors.
Although a relatively young man himself, he admits he feels like he's already approaching veteran status.
Joe Canning looks at a return to action "sooner rather than later" pic.twitter.com/Bj3Ljd8Bwj
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) January 19, 2017
"It's getting a younger game, a younger man's game," Canning added.
"You see a lot of guys retiring now at 28, 29, 30 years of age. You look even at Austin Gleeson getting Hurler of the Year and Young Hurler of the Year and Tony Kelly doing it a couple of years ago as well. It makes guys like me feel fairly old at 28!
"It's five months next Tuesday since I got the operation. It's all going okay. I'm back doing a bit of running; I missed a bit of the heavy stuff so it's not too bad. I'm looking forward to the year ahead all things going well and hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later.
"It's a seven-month, eight-month nearly injury. It's tough mentally because you're used to training with a group of guys and when you're inured you do a lot of it on your own.
"It's tough to stay away from the group dynamic. You're itching to get back... but I suppose it brings the hunger on that bit more."
