The current generation of Loughrea hurlers are building on the legacy of their forebears that last reached the All-Ireland final in 2007 but doing so in a very different style.
The Loughrea team that shot to prominence in Galway senior hurling in the 2000s and the early 2010s were simultaneously cast as nearly men and pantomime villains - two categories that don't often overlap.
In an era when Galway club hurling was often stereotyped as lawless, they gained a reputation for rugged physicality, which might be putting it euphemistically.
Their only Galway title of the modern era was won with a dramatic final quarter surge where they hit 0-07 on the trot in a low-scoring game to stun reigning All-Ireland champions Portumna.
It was also, however, accompanied by a national controversy over the injury to a certain Joe Canning, then already a household name before he'd played for the county seniors. Canning was infamously stamped on in the face during the first half, an incident which was more or less captured by the TV cameras even if the actual moment of impact was obscured by another stricken player.
It soured the aftermath of what was otherwise a remarkable triumph for Loughrea, who'd won their first Galway title since 1941, and later proceeded to a first ever All-Ireland final, where they were beaten by a resurgent Ballyhale Shamrocks.
They attracted viral attention several years later after Johnny Maher - one of the go-to icons of that era of Loughrea hurling - embarked on a one-man flaking spree in the closing stages of the 2012 Galway SHC final, having seemingly been granted a general immunity by the (presumably terrified) team of officials.
What amused the Youtube audience wasn't so much the digs themselves as Maher's extreme confidence that there'd be zero sanction coming his way regarding any of it - at least while the game was going on.
That defeat to St Thomas' was their third county final defeat in four seasons and another would arrive the following year against their chief nemesis Portumna.
Add to that prior county final losses to Portumna in 2003 and 2005 and Loughrea lost six of seven county finals between 2003 and 2013.
In light of the reputation they'd acquired, no one elsewhere in Galway hurling circles was inclined to sympathise much with their plight on that score.
However, for the present crop of players, who've carved out a very different reputation, the generation that preceded them stand out as an inspiration.
Both for lifting the club out of perpetual mediocrity of the preceding decades and their resilience in continuing to come back time and again from disappointment.
"It's the perception that's out there alright!" says wing-back Shane O'Brien with a smile, when it's put to him that the two sides are built in a very different mould.
"The last generation, I hurled with a few of them towards the end of their careers, they were all great hurlers and great men in their own right.
"They always rallied and got back to county finals, that team at that time. All the way up to 2013, which I think was the last one before this group came along.
"This team now, we're just trying to do our own thing and become our own team.
"Loughrea used to have a name for winning games by one or two points back in the days of Johnny Maher and them. But we have a different style of hurling now."
"The last generation, I hurled with a few of them towards the end of their careers, they were all great hurlers and great men in their own right."
That generation have stuck around.
Current manager Tommy Kelly, who began his senior career in the early 1990s, told the Irish Times last year that 18 of the 32 members of the 2006 panel remain around the club as coaches or selectors across the age grades.
It was under Kelly that Loughrea returned to the county final stage, after a nine-year gap, in 2022. That ended in more heartache.
St Thomas', kings of grinding out county championship victories, pipped them by a point after a replay, the fifth leg of their eventual six-in-a-row.
That was now seven final defeats in eight attempts in the modern era. Two years later, they finally got over the hump, Anthony Burns' late goal beating Cappatagle in the Galway decider in Athenry.
Last November, they lifted whatever Pearse Stadium hoodoo might have been hanging over them by edging out the ultimate final specialists St Thomas' to break new ground for the club with back-to-back titles.
"Disappointment [when] leaving Pearse Stadium was often the feeling for us at that time, apart from 2006," O'Brien tells RTÉ Sport.
"It was always at the back of the mind. It was a hurdle we had to get over as a group. And look, we did it. And thank God this year, then we backed it up with a second one."
Their backroom team contains one very high-profile name, whose duties as a current county player in a neighbouring province sometimes mean he's otherwise engaged.
Johnny Coen gave John Conlon a shoutout after their 2024 county title victory, crediting him bringing a "steeliness" to the team. Not alone that but Conlon's wife Michelle works as the team's sports psychologist.
"In fairness, I wouldn't have been one to believe in it [sport psychology] beforehand," admits O'Brien. "But after working with Michelle, I do."
As for the input of her husband...
"He brings little pockets of knowledge, like. He wouldn't be there everywhere because he's obviously stuck with Clare and Clonlara. But he brings great pockets of knowledge when he is there.
"Like, if you don't listen to John Conlan, who are you going to listen to? The quality of a man he is, like."
Prominent among the new generation are inter-county centre-forward Tiernan Kilkeen, as well as inside forwards Burns and Vince Morgan, both of whom plundered goals in the unexpectedly straightforward semi-final win over Slaughtneil.
Jamie Ryan is usually free-scoring at wing-forward, while the strength of their panel is such that Darren Shaughnessy, the goal-scorer in the county final win over St Thomas', was excluded from the starting team for the All-Ireland semi-final.
In defence, they have Shane Morgan and Paul Hoban, the latter being brother of decorated League of Ireland striker Patrick.
O'Brien, who was influential in the 2024 county triumph, has had minimal involvement so far this season after a hamstring tear in August which required an operation. However, he's back now and likely available as an option in some capacity this weekend.
Manning the middle of the defence is 2017 All-Ireland winner Coen, a rare link back to the late 2000s and early 2010s team, and who finally won his first county title in 2024 at the age of 33.
"He brings great experience to the dressing room. Even when Johnny used to be in Galway and he was coming back, he would always be a great leader. He'd talk the talk, but he'd also walk the walk.
"We couldn't ask for much more from Johnny, to be honest. He's a legend of the club, really."
