Paudie Foley has no issue admitting that his hunger had waned.
"I felt I'd been on the road, I'd played three or four years U21 and then my club had led me onto November, December," disclosed the Wexford hurler ahead of this weekend's Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup final. "Then I was back training again. So, it was a year-round kind of thing. I just wanted this complete break from it."
That break came last summer when he took a season off from inter-county hurling, missing Davy Fitz's first year in charge. The DCU student spent some time in America.
"I fully enjoyed the summer away, definitely, just to clear your head and come back with new hunger for playing again.".
It's good a thing the well has been replenished - Foley has already made plenty of trips to it this year. Back on the Wexford panel, he has the potential to become a key player for his county. He's started all three league games this season.
There's also third-level hurling on his plate. This weekend, Foley's DCU - the surprise outfit of this year's Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup - play in the final for the first time in the college's history.
A PE and Biology student on the road to his dream job, Foley has seen hurling flourish during his time in north Dublin. Paul O'Brien, DCU's Games Development Officer, has been the catalyst.
"Hurling has taken off, and a lot of it is down to Paul O'Brien, the hurling officer in DCU. He's got lads into DCU and the courses as well, I suppose, there's a good range of courses that got lads in. It's taken off since then, really."
It hasn't just been about getting in big names. A real team ethos has been cultivated. Initially, Foley thought the Freshers side which won last year's All-Ireland would form a clique, as would those who played Fitzgibbon last year. That has not been the case.
"The Freshers winning the All-Ireland last year, they were a very tight-knit group and I thought maybe they might stick with themselves and whatever lads who played Fitz last year would stay to themselves.
"But the first few months of this year, September, October, November, we had a good League run and different nights out and stuff like that and we bonded very well.
"Everyone is the best of friends. I think that's key to us being in the Fitz Final."
Nights out together have helped form the links on this DCU chain.
It creates such a good bond. Slagging each other. Things you wouldn't say to a lad when you're just talking to him in training, you'd say it on a night out. You get a bit looser, that kind of thing.
And then, sure, the next day you're laughing about the things that happened the night before. In my opinion that's how you create a very tight-knit bond.
Another factor: Fitzgibbon is a different team environment. There's a bit more fun to be had than with the often po-faced nature of inter-county and club games.
"I think with Fitz, you feel a lot of enjoyment playing. It's hard to describe the feeling but it is different to your club or your county. It's something where, maybe, there's a little less pressure on you.
"You're just going out and you want to hurl really well; do it for the lads that are around you, the lads that you're studying in college with, the lads you're spending your weeknights with.
"After training, say, you're going to the cinema or just hanging around, like. You build great friendships. You just want to do it for each other really. It's a special competition really."
Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup finalists, Conor Cleary of University of Limerick, right, will take on Paudie Foley of Dublin City University on Saturday, 24th February in Mallow. The unique quality of the Electric Ireland Higher Education Championships will see players putting their intercounty and club rivalries aside to strive to achieve Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup glory. Electric Ireland has been shining a light on these First Class Rivals as proud sponsor of the college level competitions for the next four years. GAA National Games Development Centre, National Sports Campus, in Abbotstown, Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
