The longest season is over. Almost.
For Hugo Keenan, who rocked up to Ireland camp on 18 June 2023, the decision to switch to Sevens means the full-back's season could stretch to 27 July when the Olympic Sevens comes to a conclusion.
He's hoping it will end with a gold medal.
Fifteen Tests, including World Cup heartbreak and a Six Nations title, yet more European disappointment and domestic frustration for the provinces, it will go down as a mixed season, even if the feelgood factor of late dropgoal winner against the world champions on the 391st day will carry the spirits of the players and fans for the summer recess.
The provinces racked up 102 competitive matches, with Leinster’s run to the Champions Cup final and URC semi-final bringing their total to 28.
Connacht had 24 matches, while Munster and Ulster's season ran to 25 games.
Add in eight Tests for the Women’s side, the Sevens World Series and it barely feels like you could fit it all in to a mere 13 months.
It all began with such promise as the reigning Grand Slam champions faced Italy, England and Samoa in the build-up to the World Cup.
Three wins of varying quality came out of those games but Ireland impressed with victories in France over Romania, Tonga, South Africa and Scotland, which brought their winning run to 17 Tests.
Alas, it was more familiar dejection at the final whistle of their quarter-final after a fired-up All Blacks side, who would go on to lose the final by a point, burst out of the blocks to establish a lead that Ireland, with Johnny Sexton still in harness, could not reel in.
It’s still hard to believe that was only nine months ago, it seems like a lifetime.
For Leinster, the bulk suppliers of the Ireland squad, a win on the road over arch nemesis La Rochelle boded well and after coasting through to the quarter-finals, did a demolition job on Ronan O’Gara’s men back at the Aviva Stadium.
The other provinces struggled in the pool stages of the Champions Cup with Munster staggering over the line into the knockouts and both Ulster and Connacht dropping down to the Challenge Cup, a task neither were up for.
There was, of course, the small matter of the Six Nations championship before the knock-outs began and while it ended in another title, it didn’t quite have the impact of the previous year.
In fact, after a stunning statement win in France, they never managed to replicate that performance and even after beating Scotland on the final day to retain their trophy, there was still a sense of a missed opportunity.
The round-four loss to England in Twickenham denied the team a shot at an historic back-to-back Grand Slam and – in a sign of how far Ireland had come over the last decade – the title came almost as a consolation prize.
Back on the European stage, Munster bowed out meekly away to Northampton, while Connacht and Ulster, both won opening Challenge Cup games before losing heavily in quarter-finals.
Pete Wilkins’ men went on to finish outside the play-off places in the URC and also missed out on Champions Cup qualification for next season.
A late run by Ulster, who had replaced head coach Dan McFarland with Richie Murphy in March, led to a sixth-place finish but they were out of gas by the time they faced Leinster in the URC quarters.
Munster’s early European exit allowed them to concentrate on domestic affairs and a ten-game winning streak saw Graham Rowntree’s defending champions finish top of the table.
However, they came a cropper in a Thomond Park semi-final with eventual champions Glasgow pulling off a shock victory. The sense of regret will linger in Limerick.
One wonders what the dominant feeling is in the Leinster camp after Leo Cullen’s side once again came up short in a European final.
Jacques Nienaber’s new plan – defence being the best form of attack – looked for so long to be the missing piece of the jigsaw but Leinster but ran into an inspired Toulouse in the final in London.
Antoine Dupont was unplayable and after Ciarán Frawley missed a late drop goal to win it, Leinster faded badly in overtime and another chance at conquering Europe was gone.
When they bowed out of the URC, away to Bulls in the semi-final, it looked like their exertions had caught up with them.
If Ireland fans began to suspect that another trek to the southern hemisphere would prove too much for many players they were to be pleasantly surprised.
The Springboks attempts to spice up the occasion with a rather one-sided 'war of words’ never had the desired effect and failed to unsettle the visitors.
Despite an off day in the first Test in Pretoria, Ireland came within a couple of finickity calls from the officials of beating the world champions.
After establishing a 10-point lead in the second Test, Andy Farrell's men listed badly in the third quarter and from somewhere, with the tank and the clock in the red, rescued a series draw.
Frawley’s overtime dropgoal (above) will live long in the memory of Irish fans but it must be especially pleasing for so many players who have given so much over 55 weeks.
While the Sevens sides will go for gold in Paris later this month, the curtain has been drawn on the 2023/24 season at last.
And we’ll all go again soon enough.
This morning’s announcement by Leinster that Rabah Slimani had joined to bolster their front row also came with the news that he’d be in place for pre-season training, which begins "next week".
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