Galway's first Leinster Championship outing comes against Kilkenny away from home this Saturday and it’s a stern test for a side that had an up and down league.
But although they lost their final two games to Limerick and Cork by 12 points each, Micheál Donoghue's side head to UPMC Nowlan Park with innate confidence picked up from an infusion of new blood, some positional switches, and having racked up three wins on the bounce in response to their opening round beating at home to Tipperary.
There was much experimentation along the way in the recent league campaign.
Donoghue, who led Galway to the Holy Grail with an All-Ireland title eight years ago, used 37 players in the opening four rounds of this year's Division 1A series.
In doing so he looked to have settled on his Clarinbridge clubmate Gavin Lee in the centre-back role.
Up front, Anthony Burns from Loughrea did very well.
Their midfield pairing of Cianán Fahy and Tom Monaghan got a fair road test and all the signs were that a good partnership was established.
Fahy was introduced to the Galway set-up in 2022, with Henry Shefflin deploying him in the half-forward line.
He has had a spell in defence too, but Donoghue placed much faith in him in the middle of the park.
An industrious presence and a key ball-winner in the middle third, he gives an excellent dimension in the air. And he’s happy to play a central role for the team.
"As a collective the last few years have been up and down," he says.
"For me personally I was brought in for Henry’s first year and my only goal was to get some sort of starting position.
"Thankfully he had faith in me.
"I think since then I have learned to rotate between the middle eight and try to grow and learn in every training session and every match.
"I think you have to be adaptable and at least know the roles of other players," he says. "In my role you need to know those middle eight positions inside out."
There is great pride in the Fahy family with Cianán playing alongside his younger brother, Darach.
And there is also great familiarity with Donoghue and his management team.
"A good lot of us would have worked with him before, whether that was at senior level or underage level," he says. "Those connections are there and are being strengthened again so that’s good."
Now established in the heart of the Galway team, the 27-year-old has made huge strides since making his debut.
He says he has worked hard on his development with confidence an issue early on.
"Probably belief in myself," he replies when asked what he had needed to work on since making his debut.
"I would have struggled early on with that.
"I’ve also worked hard at decision-making, that final pass and that final ball and I’m still working on that. The target is to get better every day as an individual and a team."
Heading into the bearpit that is Nowlan Park is a tough start.
"It’s going to be a huge test down there and you know what you will get," he admitted.
"But we are going to have to match every team we play for intensity and physicality. There will be no easy game at all and they will come thick and fast. We have to stay as fresh and hungry as we can."
Watch Kilkenny v Galway in the Leinster Hurling Championship on Saturday from 3.15pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch Clare v Cork in the Munster Hurling Championship on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
