Kieran Joyce recalls final chapter of Kilkenny career

He played in three All-Ireland final wins for Kilkenny, and won four medals in total, but the conversation that ended Kieran Joyce’s county career last October was a short one.

Joyce, 30 at the time, met Brian Cody for a sit-down discussion after being frozen out of the Championship team and the feedback wasn’t good.

“I didn’t feature after the Wexford match last year,” said Joyce, who played at full-back in that high-profile defeat. “If a fella got injured, I wasn’t even the first man to come on. So I said to him: ‘Obviously I’m not featuring and I’m not the first man to come in either, is the belief and the confidence still there in me?’