'A part of me is gone - but you can't be weighed down every day by sadness'

Wearing a white t-shirt, an impressive tan and a bit of a headache, Paul Nolan tells me party season is over.

"Every light on my dashboard is flashing," he laughs. "We've been on holidays, to a whole heap of weddings and I was at the All-Ireland hurling final on Sunday as well. I haven't even been able to eat breakfast this morning so, no, I definitely won't be staying up in Galway any night next week. I wouldn't be able. The good times have been and gone. It's time to get back to work."

He says that now, but the best-laid plans can always change and, if HMS Seahorse sails to victory in the Guinness Galway Hurdle next Thursday, that premature proclamation could come under serious pressure.