Cats great Keher very nearly took a different flight path

A life less ordinary was celebrated in Kilkenny last evening as one of hurling’s greatest players, Eddie Keher, was conferred with the freedom of the city.

He was an inspiration on and off the field , yet but for a quirk of fate it might have been all so different.

“When I was in St Kieran’s (College), there were very few jobs around after it unless you went to university. A friend of mine and myself were discussing it at the time and I said, ‘I’d love to be a pilot’ and he said he would too.

"The way you could become a pilot at that time was you would join the Air Corps, learn your job there and then apply for a job in Aer Lingus or whatever.

“We both applied for it and I was a fortnight too young. He was a week inside the date. I have thought about what my life would have been like had I become a pilot. Not hurling, anyway. It’s strange how little things can change your life.”

But the thought of life without hurling is a cold one for the six-time All-Ireland SHC winner. Turning 77 in October and but for a couple of difficulties with his hip last year in the fullness of his health, it has shaped as it has characterised so much of his life.

There is Eddie Keher the husband, father and grandfather, Eddie Keher the choir member, Eddie Keher the single-digit golfer, Eddie Keher the Beatles fanatic, Eddie Keher the sweet tooth and Eddie Keher the teetotaller but above all else it has been Eddie Keher the hurler.

It’s 41 years since he last wore the black and amber but memories endure of his artistry and downright steeliness on the field.

“When I was playing, everything was geared towards it. My whole life, my family, (Keher’s wife) Kay and my children were all part of it. Everything was organised around it.

“When I started working in the bank, it helped my job as well and many other things I have been involved in over the years such as committees and groups. It’s helped with the club and building the community centre and fundraising for that. It’s hard to imagine my life without hurling.”

Keher’s charm and fame played instrumental roles in Rower-Inistioge’s developments while his volunteering has long extended to the Kilkenny Supporters Club. Never afraid to pitch in, Keher has been a rallying call to help fund the teams down through the years.

He wouldn’t think twice about it, but such humility is quite the calling card, one he has retained from his playing days.

“You’d be taken down to earth pretty quickly if you got any notions about yourself. Some days you’re going to meet a fella who’s better than ya. You can’t say ‘I’m a great hurler’. You have to be realistic about the game. You’ll meet your match and you might do better the next day but there’s no way you can get a swelled head. We’re fairly level-headed in that.

“We just like to win matches as much as we can.”

If you have happened to sit beside Keher during a Kilkenny game and lived to tell the tale, you’d know that. Passionate? That would be putting it mildly. “I’m afraid so,” he smiles. “I get into the thick of it.”

Pucking every ball with the teams, the competitiveness has never left him and hopes never will. “If you want to get somewhere be it in business, life or hurling, you have to be. It’s what Brian (Cody) instils in all the fellas, that you have to be competitive.

“If I was playing you in golf, we’d murder one another to win a fiver or whatever it would be. When I play, I like to play for something and it makes it competitive.”

It pleases him no end, more so than the personal accolade itself, that the game he mastered was last night recognised by politicians as being so intrinsically linked to the city.

“We always like to acknowledge the part that hurling plays in Kilkenny and if you mention Kilkenny to most people it’s hurling that’s brought up first then maybe the castle and what have you, but hurling is what sets Kilkenny apart as a city and a county. It’s nice that the councillors acknowledge that.”

And for sure it was a celebration. In recent years, Keher has had to bid farewell to so many of his contemporaries that occasions like last night have to be savoured. “You thank God every day you’re still there and able to get around because people can be so unlucky.

“We have said goodbye to a lot of great hurlers from all the counties over the years and as you get older more are passing away. I’m extremely grateful that I’m still here and still able to go to matches and still able to hit the old golf ball. I thank God every day for that.”