Jim Gavin says it’s his job to keep Dublin’s flame burning as brightly as he can for as long as he can.
And once he’s finished, he’ll pass on the the torch to someone else who’ll try to the same.
Gavin has guided the Dubs to five All-Ireland titles in six years, including their current four in-a-row sealed with a comfortable six-point win over Tyrone at Croke Park.
He praised his players’ ‘do not blink’ attitude and explained that his role as head of a dedicated management team is about getting the best out of the resources he has.
"I just try to do my very best for Dublin," he said, speaking to RTÉ Sport.
"It’s about being in the moment, planning of the season and driving after it as best we can in a very smart way.
"You’re doing it for the county, representing football. The multidisciplinary backroom team volunteer their time, we as a management team volunteer our time - it’s our choice.
"As long as we have the torch we’ll do our best to make it burn as bright as we can. When it’s all over we’ll look back on it, but for the moment we’ll just live in the moment."
Gavin has made a skill of deflecting praise for his outstanding management and he refused to be drawn into talk of a potential history-making drive for five in 2019.
But he was quick to speak about his players and coaching team for the way they have gone about their business since 2013.
"It’s a pleasure to witness the collective will - they see the prize, they see the county and not the self"
"Going into the game we knew it was going to be a tough battle," he said. "Tyrone went five-one up and they had the momentum. Our guys don’t blink and that’s a great characteristic and they kept going through the phases.
"Half-time is only a break in play and the job still has to be finished. Our guys kept going with our phases. Tyrone finished really strong, look at the substitutes they brought on and they finished with a really attacking team, Colm Cavanagh up front, left everything on the field and the Dublin players are completely fatigued from a really tough game.
"That game could have gone the other way in the closing stages.
"It’s a pleasure to witness the collective will - they see the prize, they see the county and not the self. A lot of players there didn’t even get game-time and they never showed their disappointment - it’s the team, the team, the team and they showed that again today."
Speaking about ranking this win alongside those of 2013, ’15, ’16 and ’17, he said: "They’re all satisfying from a coaching perspective. Paul Clarke, Declan Darcy and Jason Sherlock have done phenomenal work with the guys and you see that when the technical skills come out in the heat of battle, which is something we pride ourselves on."
