The Corofin man sure ain't camera shy.

"Just a bit lower, Ray. That's it, beautiful."

"Could you tilt the cup a bit, Ray? Perfect."

The guy's a natural, real Herb Ritts material. "Thanks folks, was that okay? Where's my coffee?"

With the cup come the duties. The Galway captain is holding court in the Berkeley, there to crack the bubbly in honour of the arrival of the winter football season and to tell us what it's like, this business of being champions. A month of ceaseless flesh-pressing, functions and photo-calls have done little to diminish Ray Silke's wicked humour and he still rids himself of words in thoughtful, mesmerising torrents of sentences.

Right now, he is trying to put things in perspective, to consign the golden memories of the summer past to the scrapbook and knuckle down to earthier chores, like Corofin football, his work, everyday living. "You know, it's very easy to deal with failure. This is a strange situation. The interesting aspect of the whole All-Ireland celebrations was that after a time, they became anticlimactic. It was like we had got to somewhere, reached a peak through winning and now it becomes a matter of trying to stay there," he says.

Tonight, the boys of summer hit the turf again, a team for the first time since they travelled west after the All-Ireland. On Sunday, they visit Carrick-on-Shannon for the first game of the Church and General National Football League. Leitrim wait, lean and anxious. Galway, just a flickering promise this time last year, are big game now for the winter hunters.

"Right now, Ray Silke's only concern, Galway's only concern, is Leitrim on Sunday," he says. "John O'Mahony is a very astute manager, he will keep our feet on the ground and, I think, maintain that air of bonhomie which has served our camp last season. We don't want to be in a situation like Kerry found themselves last year, losing the first four games of the league. Winter football, you slide around the place and you enjoy it. It's 18 years or so since Galway won a league, so we'll be hoping to reach the play-offs anyway."

But that is far off talk. Winter is a fickle time and Silke has observed the precarious nature of the game first hand.

"You look at Trevor Giles, one of the best footballers in the country, out with a cruciate ligament. Careers can end very suddenly. I mean, I may not be on the Galway panel next year so it's just a matter of getting on with things and enjoying it. Anything can happen."

Like Ja Fallon quitting football. Silke shakes his head at the prospect of Galway losing the mercurial postman to rugby. "I was out marking - or trying to - mark Ja in Tuam last Sunday. He is unbelievable. He made a huge contribution to us this year. Those three points he kicked in Croke Park were . . . world class. You have to ask yourself, why would a guy like that opt for another sport? "I think the answer is obvious. If you look at this in the broader context, I think the GAA has to ensure that it keeps its stars like Fallon, they need these guys. Like, Michael Owen is just a Michael Donnellan who gets a sponsored Jaguar and God knows how many millions for wearing boots," he says, pausing at the realisation that he is touching on the thorny issue of rewards for players.

Oh, what the hell.

"Look, GAA players aren't greedy. That's possibly been a fault of ours, but I think the time has come for this situation to be reviewed. I'm not advocating professionalism, just something to ensure that players aren't out of pocket for making the sacrifice. It's a token really I should stress that Galway have looked after us well, given us whatever we asked for last year but in general, I feel there ought to be some sort of standard. Look, please don't turn this into some sort of, `Silke calls for . . .' whatever, but you know the situation."

Onwards the conversation drifts, into softer territory. A lost night somewhere in the post All-Ireland haze, in a home pub with quiet talk and sean nos. A blustery day in Ballyshannon last March when Corofin battled past the All-Ireland club semi-finals after two previous attempts. "I was nearly physically sick going into that one. It's funny, afterwards I was asked which was better, winning with Corofin or Galway and it's sort of an unfair question. It's all very well to be sitting here with the Sam Maguire in the Berkeley Court but as Charlie Nelligan said, the guy that goes in to buy a loaf of bread off you is the guy who cheers you on in club games. That's the way it is with Corofin."

Time to get moving. TV folk are waiting. Before he wraps things up though, Ray Silke almost allows himself to sketch the details of the Galway dressing-room during halftime of the All-Ireland final. Sacred stuff. But he stops short with a grin.

"What can I say? Dressing-rooms at half-time? You all know the scene. Light a cigarette and make it up."

Wouldn't know where to begin.