Ask Eric Leen about the status of being a Kerry hurler and his replay is instant and definite.
"I'm a proud man to be walking around the place playing for Kerry hurling," he tells RTE Sport. "I love it. It's where we want to be. I can only say that I am filled with pride playing for my county and if others could see how much we care, they might come on board too. But they are starting to see it."
On Saturday evening Leen will play for a Kerry side that is vastly changed from the one that lost the 2021 Joe McDonagh Cup final to Westmeath.
This year’s team has again reached the final where they will meet Antrim. Around 60% of the panel is changed from 2021 with long-term injuries to Evan Murphy, Paudie Ahern and Flor McCarthy.
Yet, under Stephen Molumphy, they have reached the final of the competition in his first year in charge.
Leen said: "We always bring serious intensity to our hurling, we give games to anyone and I guess if there is a difference in the higher levels and reaching there it is in the bits of hurling, the crispness, ball to hand, the finishing that the likes of Limerick have.
"Molumphy has built resilience with us and our confidence is growing as we get results. That said, we are not looking at results, we are looking at performances. That’s our gauge. With a good performance you can come out with your head held high."
And what does the new manager stand for? What are his core principles?
"He stands for getting the best out of us," Leen says.
"He told us at the start of the year he saw potential in us and his management team has done everything 100% to help us. It is a pleasure to be part of it, they are top notch, and we are going out on Saturday hoping to get a performance for them and us."
Leen also has great words of praise for former manager Fintan O’Connor who stepped aside last year.
"He did an unreal job with us," he states. "He put us on the map. The work he did with us and Fintan was great to me and the other lads. He was disappointed after losing last year’s final, we all were."
But yet Leen says there is no point in looking back.
"There’s not because so many of that unit has changed and it’s a new team now," he explains.
"People may feel we have the same team these last three years but there are a load of new lads, and it doesn’t make sense to look back."
The St Brendan’s man works as a teacher in Lusk, Dublin, and has marked himself out as one of the top defenders in the Joe McDonagh Cup over the past few seasons.
The competition continues to entertain and enthrall, a fitting tribute to the charismatic, passionate GAA man that the cup is named after. Last weekend saw high drama when Kerry scored a two-point win over Antrim in Belfast to join the home side in the 2022 final.
Kerry knew they needed to win and hoped that Carlow would beat Offaly to make the final and the planets duly aligned for them.
Podge Boyle was in flying form, so too was Eoin Ross and Paudie O’Connor.
And Leen is happy that the mix of the new team is right.
"It’s great to see four or five from Parnells in there with us and the same with Kenmare and Crokes lads.
"That would never have been seen before but it’s great to be widening out that group. North Kerry is a small pocket and you get sick of seeing the same heads in all the time," he jokes.
Winning the McDonagh Cup is the target and from there sustaining their status in the higher echelons in the game. Playing in the Munster hurling championship would be a welcome development too. But Leen cannot look beyond Saturday evening.
"We have to believe all that is achievable," he says.
"If we get up there that’s when we start building because there are young lads looking at us and seeing us and saying, 'this is where we want to be'.
"We had a belief we were going to do it last year but that is done now. We have a new unit and we’ll be all guns blazing for Saturday."
And did they get a hotel sorted yet?
"No hotel," he laughs.
"We’ll be back in Kerry."
Watch Antrim v Kerry, Galway v Kilkenny (both Saturday) and Clare v Limerick (Sunday) live on RTÉ2, listen live on RTÉ Radio 1 and follow live updates on RTÉ Sport Online or the RTÉ News app
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