Before the start of the 2021 All-Ireland senior hurling championship, former Tipperary hurler Shane McGrath stated that it was up to others to rise to the standards set by Limerick.
The Treaty men were bidding for a third All-Ireland in four years, and McGrath was full of praise for what they were achieving as a group.
As part of a wider discussion however, he felt the enjoyment was seeping out of the inter-county game, partly down to a near over-emphasis on training.
"There is still a fun element in the club but it's more or less gone from inter-county because of the volume of training sessions," McGrath said, adding that it may be slightly different for teams winning silverware.
No team has won more silverware in recent years that Limerick, so you'd imagine feasting at the top table is at the heart of Limerick's ambitions.
As they start out the year hunting down a fifth successive Liam MacCarthy, wing-back Diarmaid Byrnes was asked what motivates the green juggernaut to keep stocking the trophy cabinet.
Winning of course eases the pre-season slog, but what's the driving force behind it?
"For me, personally, it’s just enjoyment," the Patrickswell man said at the launch of the Allianz Hurling League.
"I know a lot of lads might be satisfied with winning whatever, but I don’t know what’s in this group, there’s just a crazy competitiveness. I know with Hego [Gearoid Hegarty] or Peter Casey, when we’re heading away somewhere, or in a hotel for pre-game, we’ll play table tennis.
"Or if we’re in a school - which was very common during Covid, we’d go to a school rather than hotels - we’ll go into the hall and play basketball or something.
"Sometimes you’re killing them right before a match! Mad stuff altogether, but really enjoyable. I suppose there’s that competitiveness that has grown in us over the last couple of years.
"That’s a natural thing - to want more, to be better every day. Competitiveness and enjoying it. You have to enjoy these moments, and I think we are."
Having missed the 2017 season through injury, Byrnes’ seven years with Limerick has yielded five All-Ireland and Munster titles, three All-Stars and a Hurler of the Year accolade.
With Aaron Gillane scooping the Player of the Year in November, it meant that Patrickswell were in the unique position of having provided the last three men to win the award, with Cian Lynch starting the run in 2021, his second time to receive the honour.
Byrnes says modesty would prevent a player from getting too carried away with personal awards, but the impact on the club and former mentors is not lost on the 30-year-old.
"It's kind of an Irish thing, you don't give yourself too much praise. Even if someone turns around and says 'that's a nice suit,' or 'that's a nice dress,' you kind of turn around and say, 'stop it's not.'
"It's that kind of a way, that kind of an Irishness between the three of us, we'd kind of brush it off, 'aw yeah, it's great,' but it really is.
"It's special for us. Patrickswell is very small. You drive through it in less than a minute. There's been a great history of Patrickswell people contributing to Limerick hurling and that's what we look at, how can we continue that.
"Aaron really truly deserved it. He was absolutely class the whole year, his consistency was unbelievable. There was some great stuff in the club around that time, the club got great recognition, some of our past trainers got a great buzz out of it."
Having taken time out travelling last year - Byrnes returned for the final two rounds of the league - the decorated wing-back took a short break in Dubai before Christmas.
"I took a week out for myself. If you can’t take seven days of the year to go away and enjoy yourself, I think there is something wrong."
Only three of last year's All-Ireland XV - Gearoid Hegarty, David Reidy and Dan Morrissey - saw game time in their two January outings, not helped by the triple cancellation of the Munster Hurling League meeting with Cork.
"It has been a tricky old month anyway, managing schedules and so on. Managers probably want the game-time, especially for the young lads. Those things are out of our control."
First up for Limerick is a league title to defend. Antrim are the visitors to the TUS Gaelic Grounds on Sunday and a repeat of last year’s campaign would do just fine for John Kiely and his charges, where they lost to Cork on the opening weekend last year before regrouping and without pulling up any trees, found themselves in a decider.
Once there, there has only been one outcome under Kiely. The comprehensive win over Kilkenny made it 11 final victories out of 11 since taking over, and would add two more before the year was out.
Few are backing against the champions to complete the feat of five-in-a-row, but not surprisingly, that talk isn’t seeping into the camp.
"I know it's obviously the elephant in the room regarding the media perspective," Byrnes says. "I know my own family at home over the Christmas period, you bump into people and it's, 'Jaysus, go on now, Byrnesie’, stupid little stuff, pub talk or whatever.
"We build up an immunity with regards to dealing with those situations, there's experience in the group and it will definitely stand to us this year, as it did last year and the previous year.
"It's just learning different things, taking nuggets as we did last year throughout the championship and we'll probably apply different things this year. But yeah, we'll treat this year no different."
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