Jackie Tyrrell confident Kilkenny’s new faces will make the grade

Thirteen new sets of Kilkenny hurling jerseys have been ordered in this week – sized not-long-out-of-minor – with some very big numbers on the back, to be handed out shortly before tomorrow’s opening round of the Allianz League against Cork.

Also waiting in the dressing room at Páirc Uí Rinn will be several very large sets of boots to fill, along with the gaping vacant sound of wisdom and experience. It what happens when a team must begin again without 13 players from their All-Ireland-winning panel.

Brian Cody is describing it as a new “transition” and that is putting it mildly: between the five retirements (JJ Delaney, Tommy Walsh, Brian Hogan, David Herity and Aidan Fogarty), the five Ballyhale players on club duty (Colin and Michael Fennelly, TJ Reid, Henry Shefflin, Joey Holden), plus the injured Richie Power (knee), John Power (hernia) and Eoin Larkin (groin), this is more of a new beginning.

But then one reason why Stan Lee always dressed his superheroes in a colourful costume is the belief that it helped give them their extra strength, and it seems the same goes for the black and amber of the Kilkenny hurling jersey.

Extra strength

No one understands this better than Jackie Tyrrell, who admits that for years he doubted his own ability, until realising the extra strength that came with the Kilkenny hurling jersey.

Four months shy of 33, he’s now the oldest man left of the panel (with the exception of the still undecided Henry Shefflin, now 36), and yet Tyrrell is no less enthused by the wearing of that jersey, realising the power it’s given players like himself.

“You’d often see these guys in club hurling,” he says, “and then you see them playing with Kilkenny and go, ‘God, are they the same guy?’ That’s just bedded in tradition and greatness with the black and amber. When you pull that jersey on you couldn’t but feel inspired. There’s a kind of a magic about it. It does incredible things to guys, and there are so many examples of that.

“Like I had a very shaky underage career like. At minor, I was very average, and had a very bad All-Ireland semi-final, when David Forde (from Galway) took me for five points.

“And in an under-21 Leinster final, Rory Jacob (from Wexford) scored a goal off me, in the last minute. So I would have had a lot of doubts from then on, and would have been carrying a lot of baggage. ‘Am I good enough? Should I be even here?’

“But I think everyone has doubts and fears, even the most confident and strongest guys out there. The best guys on the planet, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady, these guys, they have doubts and fears. It’s about how you manage it, and deal with it.”

Indeed Tyrrell still doubted himself in the same season he captained Kilkenny to the 2006 All-Ireland title: “I was dropped for that quarter-final, came in for the semi-final, was shaky enough, then had a decent final. But it was 2009 before I really had the full belief in myself.”

Yet Tyrrell also believes that the latest generation of Kilkenny hurlers can step up with the same level of confidence he now brings to his own defensive role. It will help though that they can still look towards players like him, with his eight All-Ireland medals, four All Stars, six Allianz Leagues, etc.

Great men

“It’s is going to be different now. Lads are gone, great men, and all, that but they’re gone. It’s time to put that to bed. It’s time to start looking forward, and there are opportunities for other lads.

“You could spend half the league talking about who’s going to do this or that.

“But I said it, even last year, when people were thinking about what are Kilkenny going to do, that there’s always good young hurlers here.

“If you were looking at us last year you wouldn’t have thought Conor Fogarty would be nearly an All Star, or Cillian Buckley would be an All Star, or that John Power did what he did in the All-Ireland final. The players are there. It’s just about finding them, getting them up to speed, taking some of that leadership, and driving it on.”

New transition

It may be just a new transition, or it may be a new beginning, but Tyrrell never once doubted his desire to be a part of it – declaring on the morning after the All-Ireland final replay win over Tipperary that 2015 was already in his mind.

“Yeah, I said that morning that retirement hadn’t entered my head, and it didn’t enter my head, not even with any of the lads going. I’m thoroughly enjoying my hurling, am injury free, and feel I have a lot more contribute to Kilkenny.

“Why would you retire? I hadn’t one thing that would suggest that I would even consider retirement. So straightaway it was banished out of my head. I was going on and that was it. I still love it. What’s not to love?”