TJ Reid 'felt disrespected' by Kilkenny retirement question after county final win
Asked how he would like to be remembered as a hurler, TJ Reid replied: 'I think pound for pound, the best.' Pic: ©INPHO/Ken Sutton
Kilkenny great TJ Reid has confirmed he made his decision to retire from inter-county hurling the night of Ballyhale Shamrocks’ county senior title success last Sunday week.
Following the win over Tullaroan, the 38-year-old said he was interested in staying on – “If there’s a panel picked and if I’m called for it, I’ll be there.”
However, later that evening he concluded he had played his last game for the Cats after 20 seasons.
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“Look, I was being a good politician after the game,” Reid said of his answer to the question about his Kilkenny future.
“I felt disrespected and I felt it was a very inappropriate time to ask me about Kilkenny after winning with Ballyhale. I wasn't going to let our win in the county final be about me and about my year with Kilkenny.
“So, I brushed it off as good as I could have, and that was it. It (retirement) was probably in the back of my mind probably all year. After being victorious in the county final, I knew it was time then to go with Kilkenny. I didn't want to do anything before club duties started or finished, because I wanted to focus everything, I didn't want any distractions.
“Once we completed the back-to-back, I was reflecting on me as an individual, where I want to be in four or five years' time and I wasn't going to be with Kilkenny.
“I reflected on Ballyhale Shamrocks. It was a moment in Andy’s (bar) in Ballyhale, when I looked across the room at young players coming through, mixing with older players, and I said to myself, ‘This is the dressing room where I'm happy with now.’
“Ballyhale Shamrocks is renowned all over Ireland, and I want to spend the next four or five years contributing to Ballyhale as much as I can. I'm leaving one dressing room, but I'm in the best dressing room I can be in right now, and that's where I'm very happy with.”
Seven-time All-Star and 2015 hurler of the year Reid initially wasn’t aware the awards gala was taking place on Friday just hours after he released his statement. He had informed his family on Wednesday and admitted the week was a trying one for him.
“I wanted to get it done as soon as possible after the county final. I actually didn't know the All-Stars was Friday until Patrick, my brother, told me and I said, ‘I don't care, I'm getting this (done)’.
“Because it's in the subconscious, it's there, ‘Will I put it (statement) out,’ and you're still like a Kilkenny player, and as soon as 4pm came Friday, I'm not like a Kilkenny player anymore, and the pressure off my shoulders is lifted, anxiety, the ‘will I or won't I’.
“Once I did that, I slept a happy man all weekend. During the week, I wasn't sleeping, because it was there lingering back in your mind. I pressed the button on Friday at four o'clock, it was tough to do, it was five minutes of an emotional state, but after that, I was celebrating 20 years of hard work.”
Reid said new Kilkenny manager Henry Shefflin, his clubmate and neighbour, appreciated his decision.
“I speak to Henry nearly every day, passing him. It was a conversation which he respected, and that was it. We've been having conversations every year, really, and most weekends, so it was very much a decision he respected.”
The all-time record scorer in the championship agreed his career change in 2017 to become a fitness entrepreneur elongated his time at the top of hurling.
“I just had a dedication and commitment no other player was willing to do, and my wife (Niamh) was very supportive to allow me to go and do it.”
Asked how he would like to be remembered as a hurler, Reid replied: “I think pound for pound, the best. My high levels of consistency throughout 20 years, for Ballyhale Shamrocks (too).
“For me, no other player in the country did or was doing what I'm currently doing right now. So pound for pound, between Kilkenny and Ballyhale Shamrocks, I'm happy with that, and the level of consistency.
“It was never about scoring. It was being the best player for the team versus being the best player on the team. I was always a guy that was happy to assist players more so than taking on the scores.
“I could go with the mentality of scoring 10 points a game and I could very much do that, but it wouldn't be for the benefit of the team. And that's what I did very well.
“My aerial ability, my winning ball ability, my work-rate, my vision, I see things before anybody else can see it, and I knew I had that and I capitalised on that as good as anybody else could do it. And that's what I probably will be remembered for, the skill, the finesse, the flow, everything that just made hurling look easy.”
Reid never received a red card and was known as one of the fairest hurlers.
“I was a man-marked man for a long time and you'd be getting pinched, you'd be getting verbal abuse.
“My thing was never react, always respond. I ignored every player I played. I didn't care about what he did, what he done, what he said. It was always about winning the next ball.”
The last of Reid’s seven All-Ireland medals with Kilkenny was won in 2015. He looks back with some regret on the 2019 All-Ireland final defeat to Tipperary.
“If we got one in ’19, it could have been a very different couple of years after that. The hardest thing is to win one. After doing that, the fear, the self-doubt would have been gone.”
Reid begins the quest for a ninth Leinster senior club medal with Shamrocks when they face Laois’ The Harps in a quarter-final in UPMC Nowlan Park on Sunday.
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