No end in sight for TJ Reid's Kilkenny journey 

NOT DONE YET: Personality of the Year recipient Kilkenny hurler TJ Reid with his wife Niamh de Brún-Reid at the Gaelic Writers’ Association Awards, supported EirGrid, which took place at the Iveagh Garden Hotel in Dublin. Pic: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

A couple of niggles may mean this will be the fourth league in five seasons that TJ Reid misses, but he has no intention of letting up on his Kilkenny career just yet.

Recently awarded the Gaelic Writers Association hurling personality of the year for 2022, the 35-year-old has returned to field training after coming through a strength and conditioning block to alleviate some issues he played through during Ballyhale Shamrocks’ ninth All-Ireland winning season, his sixth.

That triumph, which he hails as “probably the best victory of my career” having been “written off” against Ballygunner in the semi-final, might have seemed to some like an ideal time to step away from inter-county hurling but not Reid.

“If my attitude was like that I would have went 10 years ago, after winning my first one,” says the gym entrepreneur. 

”As a sports player, it’s all about the next one. Look, I’ve achieved unbelievable stuff with the club and county but your mindset can’t be selfish that way. Yes, I’m married, I’ve a newborn baby, I’m very happy, life is good. I’m going into my job smiling every day so there is no reason to decide enough is enough.

“In my life at the moment, I can control the controllables, which is great. And the business is flying. If it was struggling, yes, of course it would be very stressful. But I’m hurling well and I still believe in myself. As a player, you have to be honest with yourself. You have to say, “Look, I can’t perform anymore.” 

It could be argued Reid is in better physical shape than his 25-year-old version. His neighbour and friend Henry Shefflin stepped away from Kilkenny having just turned 36 but Reid is not putting a limit on his time in the black and amber. 

“If you leave a number define your career, even life in general, you’re playing on a losing battlefield straight away.

“Obviously, monitoring your load is a day-to-day thing now. Sports science is evolving. It is allowing other people to perform to their maximum and get a couple of years (more) out of them. Now we have GPS trackers so every training session, every match, is volumed. Before, or 10 years ago, everyone trained the same way. Now, it’s more individualised.” 

Coming off that January All-Ireland Club SHC final win over Dunloy, Reid was afforded extended time off by new manager and former team-mate Derek Lyng. To avenge the previous year’s final defeat to Ballygunner in the semi-final was delicious.

“A lot of things were happening in the club. You had Joey (Holden), Colin (Fennelly) coming back to get us over the line. It was just a sweet one. Probably the best victory of my career.

“It wasn’t just the final, it was the year. It was the semi-final, beating Ballygunner. That was special. That was a victory because we were being written off. Everyone was talking about Ballygunner being the best club team ever. It was a bit disrespectful after what our club Ballyhale Shamrocks has achieved over the last 10 years.

“Ballygunner beat us in the final a year ago so to get revenge… revenge is sweet when it works out. We won that game. You’ve seen the celebrations afterwards. Even talking to other people, that game meant a lot to the parish of Ballyhale. It’s not just us, it’s the club. It’s the people, the volunteers, the people who make the sandwiches after training – it hurt them as well that people were speaking so little of Ballyhale Shamrocks and regarding Ballygunner as the favourites… no fault of Ballygunner. The media and the press were highlighting that.” 

We were at it again ahead of the final, he points out. 

“Straight away, for the final it was ‘you’ll beat Dunloy’ or “it’s an easy one for us… you have the game won.’ That was the most difficult thing. It was a very dangerous game. We very much emphasised that in the build-up because if you start listening to people, we could get caught.

“We respected Dunloy and that’s why we pushed on to win the game. They’ve won four-in-a-row up in Dunloy as well. So, it was more relief when we got there. We didn’t perform to our full calibre. I think we were a bit nervous after last year. Until really the 58th minute ‘til we turned on the style and finished strongly.”