Past is past. Diarmuid O'Sullivan merrily explains that he can't see Cork's last All-Ireland triumph in the mind's eye, has no recall at all of those dim and grainy days of 1990. He's saying he is only 20, one of the Cork kids who are stomping across the borders towards a new era - and everyone wants to ask him about old times, about living in Cloyne, Christy Ring's parish.
"It was kind of a mystical thing growing up," he concedes. "You live off the stories. He died the year after I was born (1978), so I didn't know too much about him. You just live off the stories."
It would be nice to learn of some sort of ceremonial meeting between the two, a kindly pat of the infant head, a gesture which could now be fancifully construed as a passing of the torch. Didn't happen though.
"When you say you're from Cloyne, people always say `Christy Ring' and it's nice that people know where I'm from. But the thing of Christy Ring, well, his memory will always be there, but there's a whole lot who have moved on a generation from his, you know. No disrespect to that time, but I suppose the game has gotten more skilful and faster, and people want to move onto a new generation of hurling."
See, O'Sullivan isn't the kind to live in anybody's shadow. Although he is only 20, he is typical of this new breed of Cork youngsters: calm, thoughtful, seemingly beyond the flakiness of youth. He has always had responsibility thrust upon him; he captained the divisional side Imokilly to a county title and then lifted the league title as Cork captain last season after emerging from the All-Ireland winning U-21 ranks.
"It was a very special thing for me. Growing up, I think it's every youngster's aspiration to play for Cork, and watching the likes of Tom Cashman, Jimmy Crowley and Jimmy Barry, well, you live the dream and hope."
Although he spent much of the spring cropping up in various positional guises around the field, he returned to full back at the outset of the summer and looks the quintessential number three: tall, broad, uncompromising.
"I was being shifted about in the league and I was uncomfortable with that. I felt that if they didn't find somewhere for me quickly, I might lose out come the championship. Fortunately they slotted me back here. I mean, every player has their favourite position and I suppose that mine is centre back, but I can forget about that," he says, with a nod to Brian Corcoran.
He talks about the game with transparency, a good natured gabbler who confesses to taking delight in the company of Seanie McGrath, the team's celebrated wiseguy.
"I have just a laugh with him. Other lads mightn't like you having the craic, but I tend to get serious only when we go into the dressing-room. I feel that if I thought about the game too much before that, I might lose it."
He plays with a raging intensity, a relentlessly taut, focused defender.
If they win on Sunday, he will be part of it, reclaiming the county's great legacy which lapsed into a slow slide since that day he can't remember, that last great hour against Galway.
"I'm sure we'll be watching a video of that All-Ireland before we travel up," he says. "Just to remind us.
"But it's funny the way it hits you. You might be in the back garden hitting a ball around with your younger brother, or at the training ground in Cloyne, and the young lads will ask you to puc around with them. Then you realise that you are part of a Cork team and see what the whole thing means."
Diarmuid O'Sullivan
Club: Cloyne
Age: 20
Height: 6 2["]
Occupation: Car sales representative
Honours: 1 Munster SHC, 1 NHL medal, 2 All-Ireland U21, 1 Oireachtas medal, 1 County IHC medal, 1 County senior medal, 2 U21 shinty medals.
