Hickey adjusting to slow lane

He is the most decorated hurling full-back of all time, arguably the greatest, but for the first time since his senior debut in 2000 Noel Hickey is no longer a part of the Kilkenny set-up.

He’s gone out to pasture, literally, a farmer in his native Dunamaggin and adjusting to life in the slow lane.

“Great, doesn’t bother me one bit,” he said, “not missing it so far anyway.

“When I was in there it became a way of life, you’re just totally consumed by it all, totally caught up in it. If you weren’t training you were thinking of training, getting ready for training, going to physio or the swimming pool or whatever else you had to do. Now that I’m out of it I’m kept going anyway, between my own family, work and training with the club. There isn’t much time left to be thinking about missing it!

“I have a young daughter, Aimee, 14 months old, it’s great to have a bit more time to spend with her and Elaine.”

He attended a few of Kilkenny’s league games and felt fine but the first big test came in the league final against old rivals Tipperary.

“I knew there’d be a big crowd in Nowlan Park and going in that morning I was wondering if I’d miss it, if it would hit home that I’d be mad to be out there. But to be honest when the game started I was happy to be in the stands rather than running around the field after some young fit lad.

“I did it for 13 years and you have to be a realist. Everything comes to an end at some stage. I was happy with what I got out of it, time to move on.”

He’s still hurling, only 32 and as strong as ever, but these days Dunamaggin get his total attention.

“Since I was a minor I’ve never given a full year to the club, I was always involved with the county, but it was always in the back of me head to give something back to the club while I still had something left in the legs. We train three nights a week which was generally what we did with the county anyway.

As a supporter he’s much like he was as a player, quiet but with plenty going on underneath.

“I’d be quiet, yeah, just sit down and take it all in. I’d be well into it but I wouldn’t be roaring and shouting mad or anything.”

Cool too and again, just as was as a player, no nerves.

“No, not particularly. The day of the league final, even though Kilkenny only won by three points I never felt they were going to lose. You kind of know watching a game how it’s going to go.”

Which brings us to this year’s championship, and Kilkenny’s opener against Offaly. A big enough win in the end, five points, but four goals conceded?

‘Wouldn’t have happened in Noel Hickey’s day!’ is probably what one or two people thought. Not Noel himself, however, and he doesn’t have to go back very far to know why.

“You don’t have to remind me, I can tell you fairly quick. The All-Ireland final of 2010, Tipp got four, didn’t they?”

Indeed they did, Kilkenny’s drive for five stopped in its tracks. Now Kilkenny are back on the winning trail, this year going for another three-in-a-row. They need to be wary though, anyone taking this result for granted could be in for a rude awakening.

“Last year many people were tipping Dublin to beat Kilkenny in Portlaoise and a lot of those same people won’t give Dublin any chance now but Dublin will come in and give this one hell of a crack. If they’re bet, no-one will say anything to them but they’re good hurlers in Dublin, very fit and strong. Physically they’ll be able to match up to Kilkenny.”

In that sense, he reckons, the four goals conceded to Offaly might even be a positive.

“If they had won well, then going up against Dublin, who didn’t hurl great against Wexford, they’d probably have been red-hot favourites. No, after Offaly, the lads will know again that on any given day, if they’re not up for it, they can be beaten.”