It will be nice to 'go for a year or two with a new management' - TJ Reid not finished yet

MORE TO GIVE: TJ Reid of Kilkenny. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

TJ Reid has given a strong indication that he intends to continue his Kilkenny hurling career, admitting it will be nice to 'go for a year or two with a new management'.

The seven-time All-Ireland winner will turn 35 in November, the same month that his first child is due, though he showed no signs of slowing down while playing for Kilkenny this year.

The Shamrocks star steered the team to Leinster success and then to another All-Ireland, making his 74th Championship appearance in last month's two-point defeat to the Shannonsiders.

Waterford's Michael 'Brick' Walsh currently holds the Championship appearances record with 76 outings for the Deise though if Reid stays on for 2023 he would be almost certain to break that.

It would also leave him in a strong position to overtake Pat Horgan - currently 20 points ahead of him - as the all-time Championship top scorer.

Reid said that individual records won't come into it when he's weighing up his decision but he did offer a firm indication that he will be sticking around.

"I'll personally go for as long as I can," said Reid. "I have club championship coming up now and then usually in November, December, January, you'll see how you're going. Is the appetite there? Is the hunger there? Is the motivation there to go again and obviously there's the new management team that comes in.

"That's obviously going to give you a bit of a buzz as well and a bit of adrenaline, that there's a new core of people coming in so next year will be different for the likes of myself. It will be something to look forward to because I had 16 seasons with Brian so it'll be nice to go for a year or two with a new management crew just to get a different feel."

Reid won his Hurler of the Year award under Cody in 2015 and also captained Kilkenny though said he was given no indication at all by the James Stephens man that he intended quitting.

"No, no, and Brian has been the same for each of the last 16 seasons that I've been there. He never looks too far ahead, never talks about the future. He goes in there every year looking to win the league and then looking to win the Leinster and then the All-Ireland and he never mentions anything that this could be our last year together. There's no mention of that whatsoever. There was nothing, he has that mentality that he wants to win every game so no."

Reid said the amount of rumours about Cody's position just days after the All-Ireland defeat was unusual, leaving him to surmise that change was imminent. But it wasn't until the following Saturday, shortly before the news was made public, that he first learned of Cody's exit.

"There's obviously a WhatsApp group there so that Saturday I was heading out on holidays and he gave a lovely message to us, and obviously the formal messages came out to Kilkenny and the likes of yourselves an hour after it," said Reid.

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