Hickey gets better of nerves too

WHILE THE business of winning All-Irelands appears to be getting easier and easier for Kilkenny, it's not getting any easier on the stomach.

Noel Hickey was one of five players who on Sunday won a sixth senior hurling medal - along with James McGarry, Michael Kavanagh, Henry Shefflin and Eddie Brennan - yet he admitted yesterday he was more nervous going up to Croke Park than ever.

"You just never know what will happen each day you go out," he said. "Like on Sunday, I was never more nervous before any other game. The dietician was telling us what we should be eating in the morning, but you wouldn't be able to eat anything. You still come up to Croke Park wondering 'how the hell will things go?'

"Of course you enjoy it, though, as well. That's why we all do it, since we were young lads. We start every year thinking about the All-Ireland, and that's why you can't beat days like Sunday. The 82,000 people, screaming down at you. We just love days like that."

Hickey was acutely aware of the height of Sunday's achievement, pointing out, that Kilkenny had never before won three-in-a-row on the field of play (while they also won 1911-1913, in 1911 they were awarded the title).

"Certainly the three-in-a-row is a fantastic achievement. It's never been done before by a Kilkenny team on the field of play, so that's a fantastic thing to have done. I don't even know if we even realise how good it is, or what it means to us all. But there is super spirit in the team and that's why we're where we are today.

"Of course, no one was anticipating a score line that. We were just talking amongst ourselves during the week, saying that from the minute the ball was thrown in, that we'd go tearing into them, 100 miles an hour, with no let up at all. And all the lads did that.

They're super fit and they're able to do that. No one was going to die from hard work, and we knew if we worked that hard for the full 70 minutes we'd definitely go a long way in beating them."

While Kilkenny will be chasing the four-in-a-row next year, they may find Galway in their way a little sooner if the new championship proposals are accepted:

"I'd say it will probably help us, if anything," said Hickey. "Galway are a top class team, and that's the sort of competition you want. Everyone wants to go out against the top class teams the whole time.

"That's what we train for all the year. The big, tough games in Croke Park. That's where the real enjoyment is."

Team captain James "Cha" Fitzpatrick delivered one of the more rousing victory speeches on Sunday, particularly when paying credit to Brian Cody, and he had no doubt the man of the match award had gone to the right man.

"I'm still wondering was it all dream, really, what happened. It was just the perfect performance, from all the lads. It was something we were working towards all year. We just didn't think it would work out like that."