Going into Galway's most recent final against Tipperary - last year's league decider - Ollie Canning was one of the sharpest pins in the box. And he emphasised the point with two crisply taken goals as his team recorded a comfortable win.
Little over two months later, then Galway manager Matt Murphy caused many raised eyebrows by shifting the player back to his minor posting at left corner back for the All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny and their rampant full-forward line. But versatility didn't put too great a strain on him.
"I play with my club in the forwards," he says. "I played under-age up front along with Galway starting off at under-14. Minor All-Ireland at corner back in '94. I came onto the senior panel as a forward, but the guys asked me to go back and do a job. It was just another role on the team. It didn't faze me at all.
"It's different switching during a game, because you go out with a mindset as a forward or a back. It's hard during a game to come back, but if you get your head right beforehand it's fine."
The arrival of new management didn't alter perceptions of where Canning would be most effectively deployed. Once more he delivered on the big stage. Last month's semi-final against Kilkenny again brought him face-to-face with Charlie Carter, whom he held to a point in the 2000 semi-final. This time around, Carter was in even more lethal form with 0-13 from 14 chances in his two outings in Leinster.
Although Carter maintained his economy, the return was no different than last season: one point, albeit from one shot. Canning marked well and mopped up a pile of ball in the second half, one such clearance lighting the fuse for Kevin Broderick's wonder-point.
He was helped by the tightness of his outfield, who prevented the sort of ball on which Kilkenny's full forwards thrive, but the defence as a unit had to cope with the dismissal of the other corner back, Gregory Kennedy.
He is at a loss to put a finger on the difference between this and last year. Whereas the post-match consensus was that under Michael McNamara's training regime, the team was sharper and more driven than 12 months ago, Canning says the players always put in the work.
"Every year we've been training hard, we do the physical and then coming up to games you concentrate on your first touch and do a lot more work with the ball. There was no dramatic change this year.
"It often comes down to the luck you get on the day. The goal we got at the start of the game against Kilkenny really settled us down, and then DJ missed a 21-yard free. That gives you more confidence."
The difference on the field was that Galway took chances this time, whereas they had wasted them in the first half last year. They also maintained performance levels over the whole match, never allowing Kilkenny to get a foothold from which they could mount an increasingly unlikely escape. Yet Canning believes that there was little in Galway's defensive attitude to explain the change. In other words luck played a part - or at least constant vigilance allowed luck a role.
"There was no real time I felt settled and happy. They are great forwards and you can do great for most of the game and in the last few minutes they can come up and get a goal or a point or a goal and a point and that's your day's work gone. We tried to do a job for the whole game. There was never a moment where we said, 'We're doing okay' or 'We're not doing okay' - it's just 70-minutes of concentration.
"It was no different. We tried to do the same thing last year that we did this year. Our approach was no different. Maybe last year Kilkenny got a break or two. I know this year there were a few balls that came nicely to me. It's funny, there's no point in the game where you can think, 'I've got the upper hand now'."
Ollie Canning
Club: Portumna
Age: 24
Height: 5ft 11in
Weight: 12st
Occupation: Engineer
Honours: All-Ireland MHC 1994, NHL 2000.
