'I'm still doing as much as I was 10 years ago, even more': TJ Reid banishes concerns over his age

At the age of 37, Reid is set to lead the Kilkenny attack in his 19th championship when the Leinster SHC gets underway against Galway on Saturday.

NOT DONE YET: TJ Reid of Kilkenny, accompanied by his daughter Harper Reid, aged 2, signs autographs for supporters. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile.

Explaining his longevity in this newspaper to mark his inter-county retirement at the age of 40, former Waterford star Tony Browne admitted he “didn’t really take up hurling until I was 25”.

Not until Gerald McCarthy took over did he fully apply himself to the game.

By the time TJ Reid reached the age of 24, he had won three All-Ireland medals but yet to start in a final. It wasn’t until he was on the cusp of leaving the panel in 2012, frustrated with his lack of game-time and chats with Henry Shefflin and Brian Cody that he transformed his approach to the game.

Perhaps that might also be a reason why at the age of 37 he is set to lead the Kilkenny attack in his 19th championship when the Leinster SHC gets underway against Galway on Saturday.

Either way, Reid is of similar mind to Browne in believing his date of birth matters little so long as he is delivering and has the appetite.

“Look, it's mind over matter,” says Reid. “If you allow age to dictate your life, you're on a losing battlefield straight away.

“I never think of my age, I always think of how am I performing, how am I moving, how am I feeling, what's my mindset like, do I want this anymore? Do I want to be going training three or four nights a week?

“That’s the big thing, if that want isn't there, that willingness isn't there, well, then that's your time to go, and most of those guys who are in the over 35-plus club, prolonging their career, they still have that willingness to give it everything.

“They are still dedicating their life to it. If you want to reach those barriers, you have to be willing to put in the effort, because most people think that psychologically, as you get older it reduces things, but it doesn't.

"The time you do reduce it, that's when you get left behind, but I'm whatever age I am, I'm still doing as much as I was 10 years ago, even more.

TJ Reid and David O’Mahony at Croke Park as Centra announced an extension of their sponsorship of the All-Ireland GAA Hurling Senior Championship for another five years. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

“The only two things that go the older you get is your VO2 max (maximum oxygen consumption) and your speed, and they're the two things that you look after more now.

“Obviously, recovery is well optimised. When you were 23, 24, you recovered the next day. Now, you're waking up the next morning, saying, ‘Jesus, I didn't have this niggle yesterday.’”

Reid doesn’t dismiss how mediocre Kilkenny’s league was – he describes March’s nine-point home defeat to Tipperary as “embarrassing” – but puts the competition in perspective.

“It’s tough when you're trying to perform in January, February, March, when weather conditions are hard and lads are only getting into peak condition and lads are fatigued because of the high volume of training and trying to perform.

“The expectation is lads should be flying it, but there's five games in six weeks and then try to train, gym, recover, do your day-to-day job. There should be a little bit more of a breathing space, but that's up to the GAA.

“I think this year, for me anyway, the championship is completely different. We have had a break of four weeks now, so everything has risen, every percentage is after increasing, training is after increasing. 

"The league is there as a learning tool and for growth and for trying things and putting things together.”

Kilkenny took an unprecedented move by heading to Browns Sports Resort in Vilamoura, Portugal for a training camp last month. Reid couldn’t say enough about the trip.

“Financial wise, it made sense to go, because for the price of four (days), we were getting the price of only two in Ireland. Obviously, it was heat as well, the resort was top class, the pitch was like Croke Park out there.

"I'm fairly sure that they'll be definitely looking at doing it again for the next year or so.”