It's been a good winter for Lee Keegan as the man himself told Mayo aficionado Kevin Kilbane but it was also one of injury recovery.
The Mayo half back had his first full Christmas off as he builds back from a hip injury and as he said to Kevin, he's aiming for a return date towards the end of the league.
And Mayo will hope that he's fit and fighting for the Championship, having scored in consecutive All Ireland finals as Dublin just edged Mayo on both occasions.
His role is even more key as an attacking outlet who is also diligent in his man-marking duties of some of the leading lights in the modern game.
And the lesson of finding that balance between defence and attack dates back to a match in 2012 as he told Kevin.
"I got a very harsh learning lesson back in 2012 or '13 against Dublin in the league where I kept attacking constantly and next thing my man had three points scored in 10 minutes," he said.
"That's the kind of learnings you have to take from a game as well. So that was a negative for me but I turned it into a positive."
And that sense of turning a negative into a positive also informs his attitude to Mayo's quest to finally get over the line in the Championship.
"I still think there's another gear to go for us yet," he said.
"As I said, that was one of the best games we played in Croke Park last year. I still think we can go a step further when we can, if we have to and I hope to God we see it this year. I think we have the potential to do it this year. We're a very resilient bunch of guys but no one got trophies for resilience. I think you have to get trophies in the cabinet to show how great we are - and we are a great team - but to show people how great they are, we need to start winning trophies."
