Kevin Burke hopeful brother Donal can push Na Fianna the extra mile
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This time last year, when Na Fianna reached their first-ever AIB Leinster club hurling final and came up a point short, they were without captain and talisman Donal Burke.
A serious hamstring injury sidelined Burke for several months and in the wake of Na Fianna's agonising final loss to O'Loughlin Gaels, it was hard not to wonder, what if?
Burke will be available this time when Na Fianna make the short trip from their Mobhi Road base in Glasnevin to GAA HQ to face Kilcormac-Killoughey on Saturday.
It is hard to quantify just how much better off they are but it's got to be worth a few points, right?
"It's funny because it wasn't really spoken about too much at the time last year," said Na Fianna defender Kevin Burke, Donal's brother. "He obviously had his bad injury against Clare during the summer of 2023 and we just knew he was gone for the championship. It wasn't really a case of, 'He might be back'. We just had to play on without him.
"It's just great to have him involved again this year and hopefully he can push us on a bit further. I'm moreso glad for him, it was tough for him watching on.
"He's obviously been a serious player for the club all the way up from underage so it was definitely new for him to be standing on the sideline, watching as we played well."
Na Fianna, of course, are far more than a one-man team and if anything underlined that fact it was their goal against St Martin's of Wexford last weekend.
On a windy day and on a heavy sod, it was a move borrowed straight from summer as a terrific piece of, initially, control and then vision from Colin Currie out on the left wing picked out Ciaran Stacey who moved the sliotar on to AJ Murphy who, in turn, found substitute and goalscorer Sean Ryan on his right.
A year or two ago, if you were told Na Fianna had scored a goal like that, you'd have presumed Donal Burke was at the hub of it.
"It's stuff we work on, the movement of the forwards," said Kevin. "Colin made a great run out to the sideline and then Ciaran made a great run in behind, that's stuff we do work on but it doesn't always happen then as you plan in games, especially the way they (St Martin's) play. They drop a few bodies back so they kind of crowd you out. We knew they hadn't conceded a goal in their last two games, in the Wexford final and the win over Naas."
Na Fianna eventually beat St Martin's by four, an outcome that just about reflected their superiority. They've been installed as favourites for the final but if things go the other way and they lose, it will be manager Niall O Cealachain's last game in charge.
A Na Fianna die hard, he has led the revolution, guiding them to a first-ever county senior hurling final just four years ago, then back-to-back county titles and now back-to-back Leinster final appearances.
The fear will be for the future whenever he does leave to focus fully on his new job with Dublin. All concerned hope they can extend that date beyond tomorrow.
"He's brought serious structure to this Na Fianna side," said Burke. "It's pretty much like an inter-county set-up, which goes a long way. You can have the players but he's brought the structure as well. You can see it has made a huge difference to us.
"That's kind of the main thing we were looking for and then you get the coaches in to help you on a few things."
Burke himself has played for Dublin and is open to a recall if O Ceallachain fancies bringing him along.
"I'll be around next year so if the opportunity comes, I'd love to get back involved again," he said. "The main focus is still just with the club.
"Obviously we have trophies that we'd love to win so that's the main focus at the minute."