Sport can frequently be about making sacrifices. So finding a balance between family, football, and work is key.
Enjoyment, though, must be derived, and that is one of the chief reasons Pádraic Joyce is delighted to be involved.
A generational player, who starred in Galway's 1998 and 2001 All-Ireland wins, the Killererin clubman remains passionate about the maroon and white cause.
The opportunity to manage Galway was embraced."It is something I always wanted to do, become a manager," Joyce explains.
"I always wanted to play for Galway obviously, start with club, Killererin. Play with Galway, retire. Take a few years out, try and create a family - all that sorted in the background."
So Joyce acknowldges the support received at home. "In fairness my wife Tracey and kids, they are great," he adds. "They are really into football, Tracey is getting into it. The kids are into it. We are enjoying it.
"It is something I wanted to do and that is why I did it. It was for three years and this is my third year of it, I said at the start what I wanted to do and we are almost there in the third year. It would be great to finish the job."
How does Joyce keep everything on the go? "Without sounding smart, three Ds," he responds. "Decide, delegate and disappear. "That is what I have been doing for the last year, at least. I’ve been working away. I need to work a day job, running a company is hard, but I have good people behind me in the company.
"Keeping it going. Good girls in the office looking after all that. John Divilly actually as well. It is tough enough. Still surviving."
That is what Joyce has done throughout his footballing life too. A totemic figure in the Galway GAA story, Joyce has cleared awkward hurdles.
To have Galway back competing on the national stage, though, matters deeply. It was always Joyce's intention that Galway would be respected throughout the land again.
Immediately following his installation as Galway boss, Joyce spoke about making a serious bid for the ultimate honour.
"I was asked a simple question; what was my ambition as manager of Galway and I gave an answer," he says. "That was the statement of it.
"It is not an unshakable belief. I was asked a question about my ambitions as manager, I was not going to say, “Well, I am here for the craic, I am here to win a couple of championship games and go as far as I can.”
"Every team does train to win the All-Ireland. They might not say it, but they do train to win the All-Ireland and I was no different.
"I wanted Galway to win the All-Ireland and I still do, we haven’t won anything yet. We are on a journey this year that might help us get there - we are as close as we have ever been."
Winning football matches is the bottom line and it is why a team acquires confidence, begins to believe that possibilities really do exist.
"It is about results," Joyce remarks. "It is alright saying you are going to do this, you are going to do that - that’s the ambition to do it, you might not always go and do it but you are aiming at that all the time.
"That is what we wanted in Galway was people who would commit to that and go for that and this year we finally got it. We might not have had it in the last couple of years, but we have it now.
"We have a bunch of players who are committed to putting their life on the line and the number one priority in their life is Galway football. That is what we need."
Stitching a panel together that is capable of delivering consistently is a strenous mission.
"It takes a long time," Joyce replies. "I have gone through, someone told me 86 or 87 players since I came in so again people might think I am ruthless dropping lads, but I have only ever dropped three fellows as far as I can remember.
"The rest have just not stayed involved or could not commit for different reasons and that is fine, you respect people for that because even going back there is only four or five of the squad involved since 2018 when we got to a semi-final before but these things happen.
"Since then we have built a new squad and there is a great mix in it, there is young lads and a great mix of experience and youth in it so it is great."
In the 2020 and 2021 Allianz Leagues Galway encountered harrowing defeats to Mayo and Kerry.
"I have had a lot of moments," Joyce acknowledges when tough questions occupied his mind. "You know, we have had a couple of hammerings in the league, a couple of different things over the years.
"Definitely the last two years were tough enough when the game was over. No matter what when you lose a game, the first thing you hear is that they were not fit enough and the second thing is that the manager has not got a clue, no matter what game you play and it is no different at inter-county level.
"I have had a few rough nights at it and I had a lot of soul searching last July as a group, as players and management, there is no one hiding from that.
"We went away, came back and talked about it and got a different formula put together and so far it has been working, it has been great. But we need to get a result against Kerry on Sunday before the real work is done, you know."
In the winter Galway started to plan and plot for 2022 with Cian O'Neill added to the management ticket.
Is it one of the most important decisions made? "Yeah, it is," Joyce replies. "It is up there along with the conversation with Jonathan (Harris-Wright ) and Bernard Dunne as well. The three of them have come in this year and they have done really good.
"Cian brings a huge level of experience to it, he takes a lot of the training and he is really astute, a very keen guy. He is travelling from Cork to do the job two nights a week and he is coming the weekend, he is really, really good and he has worked out really good.
"Are we bosom buddies? We are probably not. We get on well together, I respect his decisions. We have had loads of rows, don’t get me wrong.
"It is part and parcel of it, that is why we got him in was to get the little bit of experience we were lacking as a group and that I was lacking probably but he has been exceptional for us. Again as Jonathan and Bernard has."
Dunne has also added substance to the Galway set-up according to Joyce.
"We needed a performance type coach person and he has just brought that little bit of mental toughness to the lads that I think we were lacking," Joyce says.
"Just how to cope in tight situations and pressure situations. His record speaks for itself with what he has done with boxing in Ireland and the Dublin football team. He has been a huge addition as well."
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All the work that commenced far from Croke Park is now being reflected at GAA headquarters.
The fun and excitement associated with an All-Ireland final needs to be embraced according to Joyce.
"They have to go and enjoy it, it’s an All-Ireland final, there are posters being made in their clubs, schools wishing them well, families looking for tickets, that all goes on," he says.
"They have to live with that and embrace it in such a way because if they go hiding away from it they won’t enjoy it.
"They need to enjoy it, and it might give them a proper lift as to what they have caused in Galway - it’s their fault they’ve caused this, it’s not mine."
Throughout Joyce's tenure young players have been afforded chances to shine. Underage success has been gleaned in recent years, a solid foundation established, but the emerging footballers have contributed handsomely.
"I'm involved in a couple of race horses there with a Kerryman, Mike O'Callaghan up in the Curragh, and I always say to him, it's as easy training young horses as old horses," he states. "It's not going to do anything for you.
"It costs the same. Where the young horse might try to get fitter and stronger.
"So I've no problem putting young lads in. I remember years ago Seán Purcell, Lord have mercy on him, after one of the matches, he said if you're good enough, you're old enough. No matter what age you are playing football."
Purcell's words of wisdom carried relevance during another remarkable stint for Galway. "He would have been around an awful lot back in our time in the 90s," Joyce recalls.
"He'd have no problem going through Martin Macs after matches, he used to pop in there. He'd make sure you weren't drinking water. A great character, a great fella.
"Revered. He used to come into the dressing rooms before the matches and shake your hand. It actually got to the stage where you'd look forward to him coming in, where is he?"
That burning desire to make Galway great was passed on through the generations.
