Fitzhenry: Cats waiting in long grass
Along with utility midfielder Adrian Fenlon he has been around the block a good many times and appreciates that for Kilkenny it won't be just a question of them going all-out to regain the title.
There is the small matter of Wexford's late, late victory over them at the semi-final stage last year.
That pushed them into a sequence of qualifying games which may well have accounted for their defeated in the All-Ireland final. Revenge will be on their mind, he agrees.
"The fact that we are going in as champions might spur them because of what happened last year. They're the form team and rightly so.''
Kilkenny's Leinster semi-final game against Offaly provided a stark reminder of what they are capable of doing to a team when they are in the right mood. So did their League meeting with Wexford in Nowlan Park, a game they won by 30 points.
"We played terribly bad that evening and they did what they will do to any team playing poorly,'' said Fitzhenry.
"They will put point on after point and goal after goal. They have a job to do when they go out on the field and we have a job, but they seem to be more clinical than any team around. If you give them half a chance they will take it.''
Fitzhenry doesn't accept that Wexford were lucky to beat them last year, believing that a team makes its own luck, and that it was the reward for the way they played on the day. Indeed, he suggests that it would have provided a valuable lesson for any young players watching the game, of the importance of never giving up "until the last puck of the game".
"We didn't give up. We just stuck at it and we ended up with that goal from Mick Jacob. It was fabulous.''
What he didn't say was that he made an important contribution with a save from Henry Shefflin at a vital stage of the game.
The fact that he didn't reflects his approach to the game, that it's the job of the forwards to maximise scoring efforts when they get a run on the opposition, and his responsibility to keep the ball out of the net when the reverse happens.
"You're there giving your best. Some days you'll keep as many out as you can, more days it will be a different set-up,'' he says.
He defied Offaly at the death in the 1997 Leinster final, and a year later Johnny Dooley scored a match-winning goal against him.
"That's the nature of the game'' he says.
Next Tuesday, Fitzhenry will celebrate his 31st birthday, not old for a goalkeeper by any means. He started out in the 1993 League quarter-final against Laois and had a real baptism of fire in the three-game series against Cork in the final.
"It's a long time to be around I suppose, but it's the same as anything, if you enjoy it you will stay at it as long as you can. As soon as the enjoyment goes, it will be time to take a look at yourself and ask if there's anything else you could be doing. But that hasn't happened for me, thankfully.''
He's aware of just how few of the successful 1996 side have survived, with Fenlon, Darragh Ryan and Rory McCarthy providing the other links.
When he started out he looked to the likes of Tom Dempsey, Martin Storey, Sean Flood and Liam Dunne for inspiration.
Now, as one of the elder statesmen, he says he does what he can to encourage the younger players.
Sunday will be different, with Kilkenny not being involved in the minor final, and with Wexford providing the opposition for Dublin in that game, he feels it would be "fabulous" for the county if they could win.
However, when it comes to the senior game, he and his team-mates will have to look after their own patch. Irrespective of the new system, he insists the rivalry between his side and Kilkenny will be no less intense "than it was 40 years ago or it will be in 40 years' time".
"The priority will be about trying to come out on top in Leinster."
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