Cats in better shape than last year, warns Hickey

If he was a cynical sort, Noel Hickey would have clapped himself on the back last summer and reasoned that he quit Kilkenny at just the right time before the inevitable decline of a great team, which their Championship results appeared to signify.

He didn’t, of course, and in fact tormented himself with ‘what ifs’ on the morning of the qualifier game with Tipperary, conceding he’d love to have been involved.

For the most part, he’s rarely regretted retirement though and, likewise, isn’t convinced that Kilkenny’s 2013 form was anything other than a blip.