In the late 1980s, Derry Foley spent Munster Final Sunday's watching the satellite screen images in the bars around Brighton, a blue collar Irish neighbourhood close to Boston College. Parched days smashing concrete, lost evenings in The Kells and Kinvara, Sunday afternoons kicking 13-a-side football on an arid patch of ground in Dorchester. Seemed as good a life as any.
After graduating from UCC, he opted for the time worn route, satisfying a wanderlust by travelling to the American north-east and settling easily into the familiar environs. Gaelic football was governed by a healthy employment network and a hard hitting attitude.
"It wasn't emigration at all, really. Brighton was like home from home. But the game is quite rough there, even with the reduced numbers. I'm not sure that it necessarily develops a player's game. Sometimes the management would fly the county stars in and regular lads would find themselves on the bench, which wasn't great for team spirit."
Aged 31 now, Foley is an integral part of the current Tipperary side, a coltish, ball-playing midfielder, dominant and elegant. Seems strange that gaelic was once an after thought.
"I suppose I was a bit of a late comer. I only got serious about the football when I came back home in 1990. Even when I was in UCC I wasn't considered good enough for the Sigerson teams. Never really did all that much at under-age level, so the game came to me late."
His return home was opportune in the sense that Tipperary football was undergoing resuscitation through the efforts of Seamus McCarthy, who recognised Foley's latent ability and stuck him in the middle of the park.
The county lost successive Munster finals in 1993 and 1994.
"To be honest, there was an element of going out to simply perform respectably then. That has changed now. Naturally, not many people give us much chance against Kerry and in fairness, it will be hard. But that won't lessen our belief or desire to win."
Foley and his inter-county colleagues met with "a bit of a culture shock" when Colm Browne, young and forthright, took over the senior team.
"The demands were new to us. We had a dietician. Socialising more or less went out the window. He knew exactly where he wanted to take us and was definite about the regime he wanted us to adhere to. It's probably the norm in the more successful counties but it was new here."
A fluid passing game and a sharp shooting forward unit propelled their run past Waterford and Clare to the Munster Final but Foley believes the team will have to alter their game somewhat in Thurles.
"It's not giving too much away to say that Thurles is a big wide pitch and a short game would be difficult to sustain. We will try and mix it with long balls. But overall, I think this match could be a bit of a shootout. That's why midfield will be critical. Dara O'Shea and Donal Daly are a bit under-estimated nationally, they are tough competitors. But we'll have to see what happens."
Tipperary football exists almost exclusively within the confines of south Tipperary, Clonmel, Fethard and Ardfinnan providing most of the players. The north of the county belongs to the ashe.
"I'd say some of the people in north Tipperary are hardly aware that we are in the Munster Final", laughs Foley.
"But there is a bit of a buzz about now. To be honest, I'd say that even within the county, there are a fair few who don't fancy us on Sunday but it's a home game for us and we know we'll get good support."
Since league training began, Foley's time has been divided between football and farming outside Clonmel. Occasionally, the physical toll reminds him of the searing exhaustion which accompanied his construction days. Sunday, though, makes it worthwhile.
"Sometimes the demands seem too much and either work or your game suffers. But to play the All-Ireland champions on your home ground is a dream situation.
