Shane O'Donnell admits he never foresaw it taking 11 years to return to an All-Ireland final after he exploded into public consciousness in 2013.
O'Donnell was a 19-year-old shock inclusion for the All-Ireland final replay against Cork, having played no part in the drawn game.
The Éire Óg attacker famously fired home three goals inside the opening 20 minutes as Davy Fitzgerald's wildcard selection gambit paid off to an extraordinary degree.
Clare utlimately overcame Cork in what was an unlikely All-Ireland final pairing for the era and O'Donnell never envisaged it would take over a decade to get back to the showpiece.
While another first half hat-trick is a bit much to be expecting, O'Donnell, who turned 30 last month, is a far more reliably prominent figure for Clare these days, and is widely touted as a Hurler of the Year contender in 2024.
"I certainly wouldn't have thought it'd be 11 years between the two All-Irelands," the Clare inside-forward told RTÉ Sport.
"Especially after that year (2013). That year was a bit of a whirlwind and I wasn't necessarily always in the starting team.
"So you don't experience it in the same way that I experience it now, where you're in the middle of it all the time and in every game.
"It's... strange, to be honest, that it's been 11 years since we've been there.
"All the games feel quite similar but then when you get into the All-Ireland final, there's just so much more hype and attention and all that great stuff that comes with it.
"It's certainly very different and I'd kind of forgotten what that's like. So, I've just been enjoying it.
"I wouldn't read too much into it (2013 replay). A lot of things went my way, I was very fortunate that day. I've played Cork a lot of times since and they've not gone that way. It's going to be an extremely difficult battle.
"Certainly wouldn't be waiting for a day like that to happen again. Just going to have to go out and do my best and see what happens essentially."
Clare have been rapping hard on the door to reach another All-Ireland final in recent years.
The 2013 All-Ireland victory was something of a bolt from the blue, in an era when Kilkenny were still comfortably in the ascendency, and the Banner slumped back into mediocrity over the subsequent half-decade.
They were pipped in an All-Ireland semi-final replay by Galway in 2018 but it wasn't until the current decade under Brian Lohan that they developed serious consistency.
After impressive Munster campaigns in 2022 and 2023, they were slender favourites entering the subsequent semi-finals, both against Kilkenny but they fell short two years running, flopping badly in '22 before being edged out in dramatic fashion in '23.
By contrast, this year their form was considered less compelling, especially after a flat Munster final performance. Pitching up against Kilkenny yet again in the last-four, they were slight underdogs but came good in the last quarter to dump out the Leinster champions and finally jump the semi-final hurdle.
"It's been a good year. Especially that match down in Cork. We were backs to the wall and went down and probably performed the best we've performed this year so far.
"The form... we feel like we've performed well throughout the year. Munster is very difficult to get out of. You're relying on these really close games, year after year, to sneak your way through.
"Look at Limerick's last game last year in the Munster championship against Cork. They won by a point and they ended up going on and winning everything else that was left."
Arguably Clare's most fluid display of 2024 was in the Munster SHC win over Cork in Round 2, when both sides were under massive pressure after losing their opening games.
O'Donnell pilfered 1-01 himself and created plenty more as Clare won a typically fast-paced, free scoring game by two points.
Cork were thought to be done for after the result but they revived their season in spectacular fashion the next day out and now they get another cut at Clare on the biggest day.
O'Donnell reckons that Páirc Uí Chaoimh game back in April will have limited relevance for Sunday.
"I don't think it matters all that much. Conventional wisdom will tell you it gives them the advantage. But at the end of the day, I think it's the slightest of margins so I don't think anyone will be reading anything into it really.
"There's definitely going to be big match-ups on both sides. They'll be picking out people they want to match up against and us, similarly.
"It's going to be quite a close game, I'd imagine. It's probably going to be, judging by the last couple of games we played, a bit of a shootout.
"It's going to be a couple of moments that it'll come down to and it'll most likely come from those match-ups."
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship final, Cork v Clare, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
