Caoimhe Maher loves playing camogie and relishes being in the midst of the pressure cooker on the biggest days with Tipperary.
She retains a compelling enthusiasm, 13 years removed from that first thrilling call-up to the senior panel having helped Tipp win their first All-Ireland minor title in 2011 and a week after celebrating her 30th birthday.
Tipp's vice-captain admits however that stepping away for a couple of years during Covid was a vital piece in the jigsaw.
The Burgess-Duharra playmaker was possibly getting a little stale, combining studies and college camogie with everything else.
"At that time, I was living in Dublin," Maher details. "I finished college, was working for the first time. I had started out being with the group and traveling up and down. And to be honest, it just took a lot out of me, and having been involved for that many years, in that kind of ongoing cycle, it was just the right thing for me to do, to step away, to take a break, physically, mentally. Do other things.
"Unfortunately, I didn't get to do a whole lot, because Covid was around but it did do me the world of good because I came back from that break a completely different player. I got to spend time doing other things, other fitness things, things I would have never got the opportunity to do.
She expands on her frame of mind prior to the hiatus.
"I was probably in a position where I was playing camogie not necessarily in the best shape," she says. "I had kind of lost - no, I wouldn't say I lost any love for it - but it kind of just became a routine that was happening in the background, as opposed to something that I was really looking forward to do every day, which would have meant I probably wasn't making the best choices around minding myself.
"It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, to actually cut ties, and I shed a lot of tears when I when I made that decision, because it was part of who I am. I didn't know anything different, but it was definitely the best thing I ever did.
Going back this year was different to any other however, as some familiar faces were absent.
All-Stars Mary Ryan, part of the squad since 2005, and Cáit Devane have retired. So too, Maher’s team-mates on the first Tipperary squad to win the All-Ireland minor championship in 2011, Nicole Walsh and Tess Ryan.
Scoring machine Eimear McGrath is out for the season with a cruciate knee ligament, while skipper Karen Kennedy’s long-standing shoulder issue will keep her out for most of the league campaign. Karin Blair continues to rehab a shoulder injury.
That has allowed Denis Kelly and his backroom staff to bring in fresh faces, predominantly from the All-Ireland and Munster-winning premier junior and minor squads.
The Premier County get the defence of their title under way at The Ragg today (2pm) against last year’s Division 1B champions Dublin. They do so having analysed what they need to take from the agonising one-point All-Ireland semi-final loss to Galway, but buoyed by the knowledge that they are right in the mix for honours.
"I think as a team, a lot of the talk is always about the output. We all go into a game thinking about the goal being the win.
"Instead of just being outcome driven as such, let's focus on those small moments, on those small processes during the game that we know when you stack those up, one on top of the other, ultimately, that's what, that's what's going to win.
"Winning the league last year was very positive. To be there and in that environment, to get used to what that feels like. To be in Croke Park and on the journey up there.
"We’re raring to go now. Dublin are going to be ferocious competitors. They're coming off the back of a really positive season last year for themselves too.
"Hopefully it’ll be a good clash in The Ragg to get the year started."
