Brendan O'Brien.

Just over three weeks ago, James Horan sat in Hotel Ballina’s Ox Room and dished out quotes ahead of last Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry with all the usual boxes being ticked before journalists, players and coaches went their separate ways into the still balmy night.

At one point, talk had turned inevitably towards James O’Donoghue, the Killarney Legion forward whose total of 1-15 in games against Cork and Galway up to that point had proved to folk inside and outside the Kingdom that there is life without the Gooch.

Horan’s response was predictable.