Des Harty squirms uncomfortably, his pathological aversion to newsprint struggling with his innate good nature and jocularity.
The latter qualities prevail, but it's a close-run thing as he agrees to talk about rugby in Ard Scoil Rís.
This season, the Limerick school had four players - Conan Doyle, Seán Cronin, Liam Óg Casey and David Sherry - on the Probables team in the final Irish Schools' trial, and three (Doyle, Cronin and Casey) were named in an Ireland Schools team which opposed an Ireland under-19 team at Lakelands in late December.
That degree of representation used to be the preserve of elite schools like Blackrock and Terenure in Dublin, Presentation and Christian Brothers in Cork or Methody and RBAI in Belfast.
From the moment they dipped their toe in the schools rugby scene in the late 1970s, Ard Scoil Rís have always lived in the shadow of St Munchin's College and Crescent College Comprehensive in Limerick.
Their progress was measured, and in the mid-to-late 1980s they amassed a few Mungret Cups (a trophy for the B division schools) and discovered that success and popularity don't necessarily coexist. They had outgrown the arena in which they competed.
Harty laughed: "There were two meetings going on in Rockwell one night in the early 1990s, one for the A schools, one for the B. I must have gone into the wrong room."
Ard Scoil Rís now found themselves in the muscular world of Munster's elite schools. They didn't shirk the challenge, and that was especially laudable in the years when they had weaker teams.
"We competed in the senior and junior cups every year without a break and kept working away at the coalface," Harty explained.
This in a school noted for prowess in Gaelic Games - both hurling and football - and also boasting a decent basketball structure. There is a demand on the pupils as the different codes try to entice recruits.
"Healthy competition" is how Harty refers to the battle for hearts and minds. There are plans to upgrade the rugby facilities.
Harty concedes: "We are very fortunate to receive the support of clubs like Shannon (Coonagh) and Garryowen (Dooradoyle), who provide us with the use of their grounds on occasion.
"There is a high level of participation in the school, but we don't go for overkill in terms of training regimes. That's illustrated in the number of players we have playing AIB League rugby. It's important that the boys still want to play rugby when they leave the school."
Harty pays tribute to parents like Séamus Byrne and Liam Rowley, who assist Kevin Long with the Junior Cup team - Ard Scoil Rís won the Junior Cup last year.
He praises Young Munster's Kieran Horan, a student at the University of Limerick, who helps train the senior side.
"We couldn't do what we do without the support of parents. We have four in-house coaches in a non-fee-paying school that also plays other sports at a high level."
Harty also singles out the role of the local clubs in the development of players. "There is a cross-fertilisation (with schools and clubs) in that one feeds off the other.
"There are occasional problems with regard to the release of players, but for the most part it is a relationship that works both ways. The rugby culture in Limerick has helped us and the clubs benefit both at the time and down the road."
It's not as if the aforementioned boys who made the Ireland Schools team are the first to do so from a school that has provided underage internationals Paul Neville and Mossie Lawler and current Ireland second row Paul O'Connell.
The latter's involvement in theEuropean Cup with Munster may prevent him attending the school's forthcoming Munster Schools' Senior Cup clash with St Munchin's College, an all-Limerick spat - O'Connell knows the pain of defeat, having lost in his senior year to Munchin's.
Ard Scoil Rís have the "box-office names" while Munchin's devotion to the team ethic and perhaps nursing a grievance about a lack of representation on the Munster Schools team should see them fired up for the occasion. What they lack in individual talent they make up for in cohesion and tenacity.
Other schools threaten to replicate the impact of Ard Scoil Rís, notably Castletroy, St Nessan's, St Enda's and Villiers, are also progressing.
The Munster cognoscenti suggest that once again Christian Brothers College, Cork, are the team to beat in this season's Schools' Senior Cup.
They square up to arch-rivals PBC Cork in one quarter-final. Reportedly Pres are somewhat underwhelmed by their opponents' reputation.
Glenstal Abbey, under the baton of Denis Hooper, are still easy on the eye and this from a school with such small numbers. They invariably play to the limit of their collective ability and do so with an élan that would embarrass the elite: well coached with a polished style. They take on Rockwell, who offer a contrast in styles with their muscular athleticism, and although favoured to succeed, the Tipperary school will have to be at their best.
Crescent are likely to have to travel to Newton in Waterford in the final quarter-final and this may not be the easy mark associated with facing a B school. Munster Schools flanker Barry O'Mahoney will lead the Limerick team.
Whisper it, but Ard Scoil Rís have a decent team and as Harty would acknowledge the achievement of representative honours "is recognition that acts as an incentive to the younger guys".
Preferring the camouflage of the long grass, Harty may no longer have any option but to concede the school is progressing quickly enough to consider cup finals a reasonable target.
Munster Senior Cup
John O'Sullivan
Senior Schools Cup - Quarter-finals
Tuesday - Mungret Cup final: Bandon v Newtown, Cork venue (2.30). Wed, Feb 11th - St Munchin's v Ard Scoil Rís, 3 p.m. Thomond Park; Bandon/Newtown v Crescent 3 p.m. home venue. Thur, Feb 12th - Glenstal v Rockwell, 3 p.m. Dooradoyle. Sun, Feb 15th - PBC v CBC 3 p.m. Musgrave Park.
