I was never much of a hurler and abandoned the game as a 16-year-old, worn out from the summers of sorrow that went hand in hand with being a member of the worst underage Blackrock team in living memory.

THE family of an “unassuming, well-liked” man who was critically injured in an unprovoked attack after a night out were last night keeping a vigil at his bedside while he remained on life-support.

A man was fighting for his life last night after an assault in the centre of Thurles in the early hours of yesterday morning.

FORMER GAA President Joe McDonagh will chair a committee of former Fitzgibbon Cup players and managers that will select a ‘Team Of The Century’ from a shortlist of 75 third-level hurling stars, as part of the competition’s centenary celebrations this year.

IT was Monday, it was early afternoon, it was raining, but there were no blues in Kilkenny yesterday, just black and amber, a city en fete as the 2011 All-Ireland senior hurling champions were welcomed home.

THE Kilkenny senior hurling league final, which will be played two weeks after the All-Ireland final, will be contested by champions Ballyhale Shamrocks and old city foes James Stephens.

“IT’S the little luxuries you miss,” sighs James Ryall, looking at his Lucozade Sport bottle as he prepares to take a gulp heading to Graigue-Ballycallan training.

Kilkenny hurler PJ Delaney has been ruled out of the Cats' plans for the rest of the Championship, following an operation on a troublesome hip injury.

THE ‘Mr Unfortunate’ of the Kilkenny hurling panel has had his season destroyed by injury...for the third consecutive year.

The sight of substitute Aidan Fogarty being stretchered off near the end of Kilkenny's Allianz Hurling League win over Offaly yesterday was not the only disappointment for manager Brian Cody.

NO winners here.

Galway 4-14 Kilkenny 3-13

DRAMA before the throw-in and drama at the death in Waterford IT sports campus on Saturday, as the University of Limerick grabbed a late, late goal from sub Thomas O’Brien to win the Fitzgibbon Cup.

UL 1-17 Limerick IT 2-11

AT half-time in this Allianz NHL round two game in Nowlan Park yesterday it looked like Cork were heading for another terrible beating.

UL’s aspirations of winning the Fitzgibbon Cup title remain intact, but only after they were forced to survive a stern examination from UCD in yesterday’s quarter-final.

I AM probably an exception to the rule but I’m not a lover of hurling under lights.

KILKENNY centre-back Brian Hogan will miss the All-Ireland final after suffering a hand injury.

Noel Hickey is set to make his first competitive start for Kilkenny since the 2008 All-Ireland final, after Brian Cody named the defender in his side to face Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds tomorrow.

NOEL HICKEY makes his long-awaited comeback from injury for Kilkenny tomorrow afternoon after he was named at full-back for their NHL Division 1 clash against Limerick.

Tipperary 1-14 Kilkenny 0-13, Thurles

John Tennyson and Eoin Larkin will make their first appearances of the season when Kilkenny face Tipperary in the sides' refixed All-Ireland NHL Division 1 duel at Semple Stadium on Sunday (throw-in 2.30pm).

A SUCCESSFUL start to the their NHL title defence by Kilkenny in Nowlan Park yesterday, but – as you’d expect for this time of year – it wasn’t by any means a vintage performance from the champions.

Kilkenny 1-17 Offaly 0-12

HURLING is on the cusp of a truly historic season as Kilkenny bid to achieve what no team in the GAA has done before and complete five-in-a-row of All-Ireland senior titles.

Kilkenny are without a number of first team regulars for tonight's Allianz NHL Division 1 opener against Tipperary at Semple Stadium (throw-in 7.30pm).

“SO that’s the end of Kilkenny?”

THE all-conquering Portumna hurlers could be back in action for Galway as early as next Sunday when John McIntyre’s men take on Limerick badly in need of league points.

KILKENNY 1-20 GALWAY 0-12

ALL STAR Eddie Brennan has been included on the Kilkenny team to play Galway in the NHL clash on Sunday following his successful appeal against his dismissal against Waterford last weekend.

KILKENNY will be short ten of their All-Ireland winning squad for their opening Allianz NHL game against Galway at Pearse Stadium on Sunday.

BY general consensus he was man-of-the-match in Sunday’s All-Ireland final, inspiring Kilkenny’s treble success with those two early goals and turning in a superb display.

Excitement is nearing fever pitch in Waterford ahead of Sunday’s crunch clash with the Cats and many workplaces will be eerily quiet on Monday with most fans taking the day off — win or lose, writes Conor Kane.

CORK selector Martin Bowen came out strongly yesterday in support of Rebel midfielder Tom Kenny, who has come under scrutiny in the wake of Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final defeat to Kilkenny.

Kilkenny 5-21 Wexford 0-17

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody has made three changes to his team for tomorrow's Leinster SHC final against Wexford (Croke Park, throw-in 4pm) - the Cats' tenth provincial decider in 11 years.

ALL-IRELAND hurling champions Kilkenny make three changes in personnel and five positional switches from the win over Offaly for tomorrow’s Leinster hurling final with an unchanged Wexford.

Kilkenny 2-24 Offaly 0-12

Offaly captain Kevin Brady has emerged as a doubt for the Faithful County's clash with Kilkenny in the Leinster hurling semi-finals on Sunday.

WHATEVER way the public perceive Tipperary’s current standing as NHL champions going into Sunday’s Munster GAA hurling championship in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, selector Mick Ryan doesn’t accept that it places an extra burden on them.

All-Ireland champions and four-in-a-row Walsh Cup chasers Kilkenny were sensationally knocked out of the 2008 Walsh Cup today as they went down to a 2-15 to 1-17 defeat to Antrim.

Wexford 0-10 Kilkenny 1-13

Kilkenny’s great hurling nursery is St Kieran’s College. Michael Moynihan visited a place where they take the game so seriously one of their pitches is lined to exactly the same dimensions as Croke Park.

Martin Comerford will make his first start of the National Hurling League when Kilkenny take on Antrim in Division 1B tomorrow (Nowlan Park, throw-in 1.00pm).