DJ’s thoughts with Carter, and leading Cats again next year

AFTER enduring a traumatic week off the field, DJ Carey was all the more proud to have led Kilkenny to their 28th All-Ireland hurling title yesterday.

And, while he didn't mention Charlie Carter in his acceptance speech, he admitted afterwards that he was sorry that his club-mate had missed out on the honour. He said Carter had sent him a 'very nice' text message on Saturday wishing him and the team luck.

"It was a bit disappointing for Charlie and I feel very sorry that he wasn't involved. He's my own club-mate and has had a great career. But, that's the way it goes. It's not everyone finishes on a good note. None of us know when it's time to stop."

Taking account of the way the game had gone, Carey felt they had achieved a magnificent win. "We were flattered to be six points up at half time. We knew Cork were going to come at us fairly strong and they did. But, the character in our team showed and we came back and got the goal at the end. But, it wasn't easy.

"I looked up the clock and there was 15 minutes to go when Cork drew level and went a point ahead. There was a long time to go. While they were hurling well and hurling strong, all we needed was a point and that would settle us down. We got that and then we got the goal afterwards."

In terms of his own contribution, Carey acknowledged that it was one of those days when the ball wasn't coming in an awful lot and it was difficult to get involved in the game. And, he was generous in praise of the Kilkenny backs, commenting: "JJ Delaney and Noel Hickey were absolutely magnificent. Put Martin Comerford in, too. He was absolutely outstanding. At the end of the day everybody will take praise because we won."

Captaining the team to victory marked the pinnacle of his career, he readily agreed. "It's so hard in Kilkenny. You have to have your club winning a championship to become captain. My own club won it last year and Charlie was obviously captain, but wasn't there at the end of it. How big an honour can a player get?

"It's our 28th All-Ireland now at this stage and I'm one of 28 people. It couldn't be a bigger honour.

"It was said a few years ago that it was a near impossibility for a team to retain the All-Ireland. We were put up there as red-hot favourites and there was nothing we could do about that. You don't become favourites without people expecting you to win and we expected to win ourselves."

Carey was reluctant to say too much about the publicity relating to his personal life, saying that he kept away from it. "There was a lot of stuff going on. Tabloids were offering money all over the place for a story. A lot of journalists apologised for the bad journalism that went on during the week. Thankfully, I took no part in it.

"There were a lot of people around me who certainly were, doing a lot of things behind the scene. One particular newspaper was coming out with a big story, but they didn't because they didn't have any facts, seemingly."

As far as the future is concerned, he has no intention of retiring. The immediate priority will be to try and help his club to retain their title and try and captain Kilkenny again.