Naas, so long perceived as the poor relation of Newbridge within Kildare GAA, enjoyed a golden season to remember in 2021-22.
Their footballers won a county title to remember in November, holding off Sarsfields to claim the Kildare SFC for the first time in 31 years.
They subsequently marched all the way to the Leinster final, aided by a remarkable finish against Tullamore in the first round. In the end, the South Dublin powerhouse Kilmacud Crokes would prove a bridge too far in the provincial decider.
Their hurlers, by contrast, are a tad more accustomed to success. In helping the club scoop the Kildare double late last year, they successfully polished off a three-in-a-row bid.
This was their cue to embark on a glorious trek through Leinster, defeating Oylegate Glenbrien by a cool seven points in the provincial decider, becoming the first Kildare team to win the intermediate provincial title since Ardclough in 2006.
They saw off Mayo surprise packages Tooreen in the semi-final and now just the Kerry kingpins Kilmoyley stand between them and All-Ireland glory tomorrow.
Kildare hurling standard bearer Brian Byrne has been intimately involved in Naas' golden winter - from all angles. Himself and James Burke are the two dual players to do 'the Teddy McCarthy' in Kildare in 2021.
"It's been fantastic," Byrne tells RTÉ Sport.
"The club and the town has had a right good couple of months between county finals back in November, training over the Christmas period, the football Leinster final in January, the hurling final the following week. The journey has just kept on rolling.
"With playing both of them, myself and James (Burke) have been extremely lucky."
The winter months saw the unlikely resurrection of the dual player, thought an endangered species in recent years, in the club sphere, between Loughmore-Castleiney's exploits in Tipperary and Naas in Kildare.
Byrne certainly wouldn't dissuade anyone from trying to juggle both games, after his experience since last autumn.
"It's brilliant to get involved in as many things as possible if you enjoy it. Enjoyment is the main thing, there's no point in doing it if you don't get enjoyment out of it.
"For us, myself and James are the only dual lads this year so it kind of meant that we were playing with one set of players and then moving across to another set of players.
"Moving between the two groups gave us that different conversation, that different buzz. Just different people altogether. I don't mean it was nice to get away from one group of lads, but it was nice just to have a different thought in your head and looking towards a championship match every weekend."
Neither Byrne nor Burke are strangers to Croke Park these days. After the Leinster SFC games held at GAA HQ in December and January, this will be the third time they've played there for Naas in the space of a month and a half.
"It's strange alright. When you're looking for so long to win a football county title, and the journey that went on, and then two games in Croke Park and we fell short in the Leinster Final. But we're getting another opportunity now for the guys in the hurling team to tog out in Croke Park.
"When you're younger you dream of those days. For me it was Kildare, you think it would be brilliant to get to Croke Park with your county team. But to get to Croke Park with your club team and to do it three times this year is pretty special.
"We'll enjoy the occasion, but it's a little bit more difficult for us to enjoy it because we have a job to do on the pitch."
In the story of Naas' rise, the benevolence of Kilkenny is given a great deal of credit. Their younger underage teams have been competing in Kilkenny since the mid-2010s, performing strongly for the most part.
A few weeks ago, in advance of the All-Ireland semi-finals, Ballyhale goalkeeper Dean Mason recalls shipping six goals against Naas in an U16 game.
Byrne, who is slightly too old to have availed of this development path, says the Kilkenny link has been beneficial to Naas - but he wouldn't want the point overstated, arguing the roots of Naas' current success run deeper.
"I definitely think it goes back a lot further. You've an incredible amount of guys who have put an awful lot of work in to get the lads to that situation where they can play in Kilkenny.
"There’s no point going down to Kilkenny if you’re not able for it. You’ve the likes of John Holmes who’s still spending hours and hours with juvenile teams.
"Denis Hanley, who’s no longer with us anymore, he spent loads of time with underage teams. Don and John – those people are to the core of it and there are so many more.
"So many people put time and effort into the juvenile section to get us that far so while it’s fantastic for us to go down there, I do think it’s overplayed a little bit."
Naas' journey to the All-Ireland decider comes in the context of Kildare hurling's rise across several metrics. In 2020, Byrne captained Kildare to a Christy Ring Cup title, David Herity's side beating Roscommon and Down to progress to the second tier.
While, they went back down in 2021, they acquitted themselves reasonably in their first tilt at (a shortened) Joe McDonagh, losing by just a point to eventual winners Westmeath.
On top of that, Kildare's U20s made headlines last year with a landmark win over Wexford in the Leinster hurling championship.
"We got out of the Christy Ring two years ago and then last year had the disappointment of going back down into it," says Byrne.
"I suppose where we need to look at it from our perspective is getting up there and maintaining that level of consistency to stay in the Joe McDonagh. And then when you're consistently performing at that level, to take a step up to the next level if possible.
"The Kildare hurling board have put in a serious amount of effort setting up a pathway and working with the clubs closely to ensure the young guys are getting proper coaching. The pathway is getting there and it's slowly moving. The minors have progressed an incredible amount.
"A downside was probably the U-20s where it wasn't getting as much profile as it should have been. That's increased an awful amount now over the last couple of years. The likes of John Doran, Paul Divilly, Eoin Stapleton, Máirtin Boran, Pat Dowling are all putting in a serious amount of time with those guys. We'll only see the fruit of that as those guys get over that U-21, U-20 age-group and jump in with the seniors."
As regards Kildare hurling's ambitions over the next three years, Byrne stresses the immediate target is winning Christy Ring and returning to the second tier and getting a full-tilt at that level.
Establishing themselves as a Joe McDonagh Cup level team is the objective and then, maybe, they can look beyond and towards the front-rank of Leinster senior hurling.
"If you're looking at three years, you’d be looking at getting out of Christy Ring this year and then maintaining our position in the League.
"It’s very competitive in 2A with the Carlows, Kerrys, and Downs. It’s important that we maintain that level of consistency and that starts with the League. Then you go on and try to get back up to Joe McDonagh where we were last year. Then there are two years in Joe McDonagh.
"You’re looking at maybe a couple of percentage points there, to see if Liam MacCarthy or the Leinster championship is a realistic goal.
"If it is then, after a year in Joe McDonagh, you have to go for it. We all want to play at the top level so in three years you’d be looking at maintaining Joe McDonagh and then if possible, there should be no reason why we can’t stretch for Leinster."
