Mullen itching for first taste of national success in black and amber

HUNGRY: Kilkenny senior hurler, Adrian Mullen. Pic: Tom Maher, Inpho

He's done a lot in hurling, but at 25, Adrian Mullen probably figured he'd have won an All-Ireland medal, or even an Allianz League, by now. Surprisingly, he has neither.

The Shamrocks man, technically, was part of a league winning team in 2021, but that was a shared title with Galway in the Covid affected season and, well, they don't really count do they?

Did he even get a medal for that?

"I actually don't know," smiled Mullen. "I don't remember getting one anyway!"

Mullen then is that rarest of species, a Kilkenny senior who has never felt the weight of the McCarthy Cup or the National League trophy in his hands.

"I've been playing with Kilkenny the last five or six years and I'm yet to win one, yeah, so it would be a massive achievement to do it, and a massive achievement for the team," said Mullen.

Whatever about their league drought, the fact that it's almost a decade since Kilkenny won an All-Ireland is the real head scratcher.

"Unfortunately I've been in three All-Ireland finals since I started with Kilkenny and I've come out the wrong side of them," said Mullen, extending his tale of woe. 

"Obviously we'd absolutely love to get to an All-Ireland and come out the right side of it but the Championship is cutthroat these days. Any team can beat any team on any given day so we can't look too far ahead or get too bogged down by the previous years."

Injuries have played a frustrating part in Mullen's personal journey to this point.

Along with Tommy Walsh, David Blanchfield, Cian Kenny and clubmate Eoin Cody, he has started all six of Kilkenny's league games this season. 

But it's the first time he's done that since 2021 having only returned for the closing games of the 2022 and 2023 campaigns. His only game of the 2023 league was the final and he was tossed in at the deep end with a starting spot against Limerick on that occasion.

"That was a tough game to be thrown into because I had come back from a bad hamstring injury that time," he recalled. "I was out for three months and coming back into that game was tough."

Kilkenny lost it too though bounced back to regain the Leinster title and will challenge for a provincial five-in-a-row in the coming weeks. Whatever about their barren streak at national level, they retain a firm grip on the Bob O'Keeffe Cup.

Their defence of that title begins on April 21 and with Antrim the opposition, at Nowlan Park, Derek Lyng's side may be in more of a position than Clare to really go after this weekend's game. Clare perhaps will have an eye on their date with Limerick in a fortnight.

Mullen rejected the idea that this may be some sort of Championship warm-up for Kilkenny.

"I can tell you now, it doesn't feel like a warm-up competition to us or to the players involved," said the three-time All-Ireland club medallist who has been named at number 10 against Clare. "The games themselves are so tough and physical, it demands a lot of you. I definitely wouldn't call it a warm-up campaign anyway. You approach the games like Championship games."