Former champion Charly Shanks will make his bow in the 2019 O'Neill's All-Ireland Senior Singles this weekend against Tipperary's Ger Coonan with only one thing in mind - going all the way.
The Clann Eireann man, who was beaten in last year's final, recently welcomed his third child, baby Marianne, and while his priorities have changed after a decade and a half at the top, he would not be taking part if he didn't feel he could go all the way again.
"The motivation definitely dips," Shanks said.
"When you're younger, you're going at it gung-ho, you want it more than anything. Whereas now, yeah, it would be nice to win another one, I still think back to those two finals against McCarthy, I had two great opportunities to win back-to-back All-Irelands.
"To win one was great but I want to win another one. That's the motivation to keep playing, to win another one. But I have other commitments now too."
With the new baby arriving, Shanks took a break from tournament play for a few months, having last laced up the gloves competitively at the Golden Gloves - which he helps organise - in November. He missed out on a couple of leading events but feels that his game is in a good place regardless.
"I would have competed in most of them if I could have, I probably wouldn't have played the Nationals because it was too close to the championship but I certainly would have played the tournaments in Galway and Mayo, mainly because I enjoy playing.
"Whenever you're playing well, you enjoy playing. But at the start of the year when I was getting back into it, I was driving back up the road after training saying to myself 'let's call it a day, don't put yourself through this again'.
"But I persevered and in the last couple of weeks I've started to feel a lot better in the court. Hopefully that carries through now into the championship."
Shanks is not looking past Coonan but, should he come through that one and the seeds holds up, he is likely to meet Clare's Colin Crehan in the quarter-final. Having picked up a shoulder strain in training recently, the Lurgan man believes that his season is likely to hinge on that last eight clash should it come to pass.
"I got a couple of games with Martin [Mulkerrins], a couple with Owen McKenna, Ricky McCann and one game with Brendan Fleming. So I've got a lot of games in," he revealed.
"I started to feel good last week, the middle of the week I thought it was coming right and then I played Martin at the weekend and my shoulder... it was not good.
"It seems to be posterior delt, I could have over-stretched it. But it should be alright for the weekend, whether it will last the whole course of the championship is the thing.
"I think my conditioning is there, I have worked hard on it so it should be good. I don't know because I haven't played in a competition since November.
"I won't know till I get into it really. If I get past Coonan this weekend, I will play Crehan or Patrick Funchion, and that game will define my championship and what direction it takes."
While others have been slogging it out on the tournament circuit, Shanks has been quietly preparing away from the limelight. Whether or not that will prove beneficial remains to be seen.
"I think those guys have played me a lot and know my game well so I won't be coming under the radar. The only one I haven't played is Crehan, I have never played him," he said.
"My game sharpness might have gone down a bit but maybe I will be fresher than other players, there are different ways of looking at it."
As for who those "other players" are, Shanks highlights Mulkerrins, Diarmaid Nash, Crehan and Robbie McCarthy as the men to beat.
"Who are the favourites? You have to look at Nash's form, he has been consistent all year. Mulkerrins has been lurking there, making semi-finals, he had a good Moycullen tournament but he did the same last year, he didn't perform brilliantly in tournaments and then come the championship he seemed to peak for it.
"I experienced it last year with him, on the day of the final he upped his performance. McCarthy seems to be peaking at the right time as well. Those three players will be in the mix and Colin Crehan as well.
"I would say it's one of the most open championships we have had. In the last 20 years it was always Brady or Healy or maybe Kennedy and then after that me and Brady or McCarthy and Brady or McCarthy or myself. This year, I think there are five or six contenders this year who will be there or thereabouts."
By Paul Fitzpatrick