It was the heat of a championship Sunday in the Gaelic Grounds and Semple Stadium that formed Muiris Curtin's love of hurling.
Growing up in Rathangan in Kildare, Curtin says he was lucky to have two parents who brought him to all those matches, and to his own training and also mentions a local hurling coach and two primary school teachers from Tipperary who helped foster his love of the game from an early age.
Curtin’s father Larry is vice-chair of Kildare and a Limerick native.
"We spent so many days in Thurles and the Gaelic Grounds supporting Limerick," he recalls.
"It’s probably only now that I appreciate the time that my parents gave, going to training and matches and I was lucky to have that.
"Two teachers from Tipperary were in my primary school and drove it on and we had another Limerick man, Jack O’Connell, in Rathangan and he was a huge influence."
Upon transferring from Rathangan to Moorefield, Curtin has seen hurling develop within the club, with two adult teams now on the go.
A couple of years ago they won the Kildare Senior B title, with Curtin winning player of the year.
"Look, I grew up supporting a different county, one other than my own, but nothing beats being at those games.
"I was surrounded by hurling-mad people in traditionally non-hurling counties and that drove me on. Growing up, you’d need these people around you and a lot of the lads on the Kildare team would be the same I would say.
"There are a lot of good Kildare hurling people, and then a lot from outside the county who live here that encouraged us all the way up, and I don’t think we’d be where we are without them."
Following back-to-back promotions from the Christy Ring and Joe MacDonagh Cups, three wins followed in Division 1B and league status assured, they now turn their attention to the Leinster Championship for the first time since 2004.
Across the past 15 years, various senior managers have come in and put their shoulder to the wheel, all driving the county forward.
Willie Sutherland was there before Tipperary man Brian Lawlor came in and led them to an historic Christy Ring title in 2014.
Two-time All Star Joe Quaid arrived and raised the profile, leading them to another Ring title and some other memorable days.
After that, it was over to two Kilkenny men for subsequent tenures. David Herity took charge from 2018-2023 and had a massive impact, while Brian Dowling has the reins now and is building impressively on the work that went beforehand.
The sport is also growing within the county. There are more clubs, more players and more opportunities to play. There are good coaches and that means more players want to play.
In addition, the development squad system is working and a pathway to senior hurling has been identified.
Since the Christy Ring Cup was introduced, Kildare have won it five times, in 2014, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024. They played 78 games in the competition and won 52.
Their step up to Joe MacDonagh level was taxing initially. They lost their opening game of last year's round-robin series to Kerry – their ninth McDonagh Cup game and their ninth defeat.
Despite those defeats, however, solid foundations had been laid by the likes of county GDO John Doran and head of athletic development Paul Divilly – two former stalwarts of the county team.
That work had ensured that more clubs were playing the game, going from two or three teams at Division 1 level underage to five or six, with games a lot tighter between teams. The other divisions have also filled up.
"There are definitely more people talking about Kildare hurling," Curtin says.
"We are fully aware of the hard work that Kildare hurlers in the past went through at Christy Ring level and this has helped the current team get a platform and be spoken about.
"We are in a privileged position. We wanted to retain our 1B status and we were happy to get three wins and three decent performances, but it was the manner in which we brought intensity and work rate that drove us on, and we need to bring more than that now. Nothing less will suffice
"Our responsibility is to match the lads in Leinster this year. No one will wait for us – the games will be thick and fast and there will be no easy game, but Brian set all that out at training and he asked for the effort to go up another level.
"I think lads grabbed that by the scruff of the neck and went at it. It paid dividends in the league and we are hoping it will for the championship now, too."
Watch a Munster Hurling Championship double-header, Clare v Waterford (2pm) and Tipperary v Cork (4pm), on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
Watch The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
