Sport can have a cruel sense of humour.
Five times county football champions, Na Fianna only reached their first Dublin hurling final in 2021. Extra-time heartbreak against Kilmacud Crokes ensued and the same opponents beat them again in the finale last year, a week after they had done the same to their footballers.
Dónal Burke was the Glasnevin club's captain and top scorer in both the '21 (2-07, 6fs) and ’22 (0-11, 6fs) deciders.
But when Na Fianna made it third time lucky in October - hammering Ballyboden to join the Dublin roll of honour - their talisman was on the sideline handing out the water bottles, courtesy of a serious hamstring tear sustained in June’s All-Ireland SHC quarter-final loss to Clare.
"If you had told me at the start of the year that we would win it but I wouldn’t play, I would have taken that," the sharpshooter tells RTÉ Sport. "It’s not as if I’m not part of the team anymore. I still go to all the trainings and stuff.
"I’m the Maor Uisce these days. It’s a lot more nerve-racking than playing to be honest! It’s grand, anything to try and stay involved. A lot of other people stood up. We had a few lads who were playing their first year on the team, like John Tierney and Ciaran Stacey, they had serious campaigns for us.
"It was more victory for the club than us. Just so great to get over the line. We had a special few days then after. My older brother [Seán] is playing for that team 14 years so it was great for him and a few other lads, it was a long road for them."
Younger brother Kevin was the other corner-back.
"A lot of us would've grown up together on that team. We have a very good bond. The half an hour after the game was probably the best, everybody coming up, all the parents and your mentors that had been coaching you. It was savage."
Na Fianna face Naas in a Leinster semi-final on Saturday, and though Burke doesn’t anticipate being back in action in the province, he’s hoping that his clubmates can prolong their campaign long enough for him to join in again.
"I jumped for a ball and came down awkwardly, felt a pop in my leg," he recalls. "I tried to play on but wasn’t too successful. The group stage in Dublin is six weeks so I thought I would maybe make it back for the knockout stages. Then I got a scan and the physio rang me and told me ‘you’ll be out for a few months here’.
"I tore my hamstring tendon off the bone so it’s fairly serious. I had to get surgery then shortly after. Hopefully we can keep winning and maybe I'll make an appearance then. It would be class if they did [get to December’s All-Ireland semis] but it will be a tough game now.
"The last few weeks I was hoping to make it back but the physio said I needed a couple more weeks strength work and that it’s not something you want to rush, which is fair enough. I think they [club management] knew the seriousness of it. I don’t want it lingering over the next couple of years, I want to get it right first time."
The 25-year-old has big plans for the next couple of seasons. Namely, helping a Dublin team whose 2013 Leinster title is their only championship silverware in the last 62 years get back into a provincial final.
"For me we were probably two points off a Leinster final," he says of Micheál Donoghue’s first campaign in charge. "If Kilkenny win that first game against Galway, and we get another point to beat Galway we’re in a Leinster final. You never know what can happen then in a final.
"It probably takes a while [for a manager] to get the feel for lads and who fits into the system but it’s not a bad first year to be fair. We were there or thereabouts, just a couple of results didn’t go our way.
"Hopefully we can take another step forward and make a Leinster final this year. I wouldn’t be playing if I didn’t think we had a Leinster or an All-Ireland in us. It’s just about maybe encouraging the younger lads and getting that bit of confidence into them. Don’t be afraid of playing anyone or beating anyone.
"If you watch the [Dublin] club championship, it’s probably one of the most competitive in Ireland. Talk is cheap, it’s a results-based business, hopefully we can back it up now with a few results in the next few months."
Key to their chances of doing so will be keeping Burke – one of the most accurate free-takers in the game – on the field. An average of 26 frees were awarded per championship game this season and anywhere inside 100 metres is now seen as scoreable.
The recently qualified accountant admits he didn’t love the added pressure when first handed the task but intensive focus during the pandemic, and twice weekly practice sessions since, means he can shrug off the occasional misses more easily.
"It’s huge nowadays," he agrees. "It’s a big factor so it’s worth putting a bit of time into. I’ve kind of got used to it now. I look at it more as a role for the team rather than 20,000 people watching you.
"During Covid, that 18 months where we kind of weren’t doing anything, I just took that time to kind of perfect it. From there it’s just top-up stuff, going out at lunchtime maybe in work, coming down early to training. It’s a couple of sessions per week, not too much extra work but it has to be done.
"It’s just about nailing down a technique, knowing the best way I strike the ball. It’s mostly mental to be honest. Once you have your technique nailed, that’s half the battle. How you lift it… There’s no one way to hit a free, everyone is different."
Is there a minimum number in mind each day?
"I don’t have actual [conversion] rates set out. The stats man would let me know if I’m missing a few but it’s probably more with every free, trying to go through your routine instead of ‘I can afford to miss this one because I’m eight out of nine’.
"I used to be very bad for it, [thinking] ‘I need to get the next one now’. Thankfully I’ve worked on that the last couple of years. You’re not going to score every free, misses are part of the game. Maybe after the game you might remember taking a step too far this way or lifting the ball up an inch too far. There would usually be a reason.
"Usually I would know [why] a split-second after and maybe watch that on the next one. As long as you nail the next one you’re back on form then."
