Yes, Brian Corcoran's book. No, Tony Browne is "not interested" in talking about it. Well, okay, as an afterthought he does concede that he wouldn't be averse to switching on the radio and lending an ear if Corcoran were "to come down and talk about it on WLR", but otherwise he won't be drawn on the subject. Move along there now.

Nothing to say.

Satisfied? You'll have to be. Satisfied to hear Tony Browne reflecting noncontroversially on 2006, the year of another Waterford near-miss, and looking forward non-controversially to 2007, the year of what he hopes won't be another Waterford near-miss. Perhaps even satisfied for the Mount Sion man, recent winner of his second All Star at the age of 33. Here's one GAA player the years have not withered.

Granted, the reader won't be surprised to learn that Browne would "happily have swapped the award for beating Cork by a point and reaching the All Ireland final". Still, the All Star . . . "it's a personal award and one that I was absolutely delighted to win" . . . was a feather in his cap, not least for its recognition that he remained capable of flourishing, never mind merely competing, at the top level. To put it another way, the really unfortunate Tipperary defender at Citywest a few weeks ago was not Paul Curran, a plausible candidate in a poor summer for full-backs, but Eamon Corcoran, a plausible candidate in a fine summer for right-half backs. In any other year, Corcoran would have been an eminently deserving winner. But not ahead of Browne last year.

Much of the explanation for Browne's reflowering is attributable to his carefully calibrated training schedule.

Knowing their man and operating on the basis of horses for courses, the Waterford management minimised the amount of high-impact training Browne did on his legs over the winter. He was allowed to do as much strength work and speed work as the rest of the panel but he did considerably less stamina work, the upshot being that what he describes as his "awful habit of picking up knocks right in the middle of the season that set me back a couple of weeks every time" disappeared. Missing the first three rounds of the National League (the only game he started was the quarter-final versus Limerick) didn't do him any harm either.

In technical terms, Browne has become adept at 'prehabilitation'. The smarter he prepares during the winter and spring, the less that fitness is an issue during the summer. Ask him how the ageing process is treating him and he'll reply that he's actually in better shape than he was five years ago. He's a little bit stronger. He's even, improbably, a little bit faster, two changes he attributes to weight training. But with these roses comes a thorn. Begins with an r, ends with a y and has an e, c, o, v, e and r in between. Recovery.

"Five years ago I could go training on the Thursday after a match and I'd have no problems. It's not like that any more. Nowadays I wouldn't be fully recovered by the Thursday. With a championship match on a Sunday, I'd have bother in making it if there was a replay the following weekend.

"But when you've been playing for so many years, it's hard to walk away from it. Especially the last couple of years when you've been knocking on the door, when you can smell it, when you're reaching All Ireland semi-finals and when the team is maturing. I mean, people seem to think that Ken and Dan and Eoin Murphy are quite old, but they're only now coming into their prime."

He hasn't watched the video of last year's semi-final and he won't. He's not one for looking back, even if filing away the pain of 2006 . . . the fourth All Ireland semi-final he's contested and lost . . . and moving on was difficult. "The four semifinals were all painful, but the older you get, the last one does feel the most painful. You can't know whether you'll get back there again."

Waterford have, he accepts, travelled a distance in recent years, a journey that's triggered a change in priorities for the supporters and for the team.

They've won their Munster titles.

They've had their big days out. "It's now about winning . . . or even reaching . . . that All Ireland final. Getting there and performing on the day, which I think we're well capable of." What will make the difference? One or two little things, Browne responds. One or two little things and a small slice of luck.

Those little things. Little things like the failure to fill the gap on the edge of their square at the Canal End for Clare's goal in 2002. Or the sliotar failing to come up for Paul O'Brien when he was a quick pick and a couple of steps away from being one-on-one with James McGarry in the dying minutes in 2004.

Or Ken McGrath an inch or two from glory with that monster free in injurytime against Cork last August.

Or, moments earlier, with 71 minutes on the clock, McGrath attempting to manicure a pass out towards the Cusack Stand side, the sliotar picking up speed off the turf and Browne unable to bring it under control. Possession and momentum lost, lineball to Cork, more seconds wasted. "I just couldn't get to that ball. No way in the world. And they're the little things that turn games."

As against that, some of the little things they have learned, by dint of bitter experience, to plan for and cope with. Had McGrath's free struggled over the crossbar, people would . . . rightly . . . have been hymning Waterford's earlier patience in holding their nerve and choosing to pick off their points when two and three behind instead of trying baldheaded for goals. Hence Browne's claim that the team's development progresses apace.

"I wouldn't say we scored our goal too early against Cork because I don't think there's ever a bad time to score a goal.

But they were so experienced, they were such good finishers. The game was there for the taking for both teams, and looking back on it you could say that the semi-final was Cork's All Ireland. So it wasn't that we hurled badly or anything. Before this on the big stage, our failures weren't down to individuals but to people playing like individuals when nerves took over. I think we've learned to control ourselves. We're more mature on the big day. The one thing we do need is that bit of luck."

They enter the new season under the old boss. Browne isn't complaining. "Even before Justin came along, we were expecting to do well, to reach All Ireland finals. I think it's more because we've been coming so close in the last couple of years that people were wondering if a change might bring us over the line. But we know what we have in Justin. He's one of the best coaches in the country. He's not the reason we haven't been reaching the All Ireland final."

The journey continues.