GAVIN CUMMISKEYfinds the full back fired more by the rare bad day than the more usual good days in black and amber
A ROW of cars stalls for no apparent reason on the narrow road out the back of Langtons hotel, yet no horns are blaring. There is no complaining, just a line of straining necks out windows. The driver at the front of the queue is conversing with Noel Hickey.
“Howya, Noel, everything all right with you?” “I’m fine . . .”
When the discussion ends others seek a quick word or at least wish their legendary full back well in the days ahead.
Just as Hickey regains stride towards the sanctity of the hotel an elderly lady steps off the footpath and introduces herself. She speaks of hurling matters as if she is a team-mate.
That’s Noel Hickey. And this is Kilkenny city in late August, early September.
It seems to us on the outside it will last forever but Hickey is perfectly placed to know it can be snatched away.
Along with Henry Shefflin and perhaps goalkeeper PJ Ryan, Hickey’s name has been stencilled into the Kilkenny team-sheet at full back ever since he burst onto the scene, winning young hurler of the year in 2000.
But many sporting lives change for the worst in an instant. Last year JJ Delaney was handed the full back commission, the great wing back seen as the only man capable of covering for the injured bear on the Cats’ square.
“I tore the two groins in a club game at the end of ’08 – I had one of them operated on in December ’08 and the other in February ’09,” Hickey explained.
“I got over them and I got back into training coming into the championship. Then the medial knee ligament in my left knee went and I probably lost another month there. I got back then again, but then I did my a/c joint in my shoulder coming up to the All-Ireland final so I never got a chance to get the hurling up, or the fitness good enough. It was just one of those things – a bad luck year.”
Hickey received a medal but did not play the All-Ireland final.
It could be argued he hasn’t been at his consistent best since winning an All Star in 2006 but despite an injury-ravaged 2008, due to hamstring problems, he recovered to feature in the All-Ireland semi-final before a near-perfect display of ferocity combined with accuracy destroyed Waterford in the final.
Two appearances was enough to win him a third All Star. It helped that against Waterford he shadowed hurler-of-the-year -in-waiting Dan Shanahan for pivotal moments of the contest. Scoreless, Shanahan was replaced on 64 minutes.
On Sunday Hickey will represent the difference between Kilkenny of last season and the present campaign.
When asked about his greatest memory of the past 10 years he remembers one of the worst and how it was atoned for. The 2004 final was famous for Cork reaching the zenith of their powers and beating Kilkenny 0-17 to 0-9. Brian Corcoran had come out of retirement and more than covered the loss of Setanta Ó hAilpín to Australian Rules. Two years later Kilkenny produced a waspish display to suffocate the Rebels and ruthlessly deny them the three-in-a-row.
“That Cork team we beat that day were a super team and they were after beating us in 2004 when we were going for three in-a-row. I was marking Brian Corcoran that day and I didn’t really have a good game on him. We came back in 2006 and I was marking him and you just love to get back and set the record right. If you were to ask me the best All-Ireland, that would definitely be the one.”
This feeling can be surpassed on Sunday. He can dismiss the anguish of missing last season as well. The greatest full back of the era is still looking to balance his ledger. The scalps of Corcoran and Shanahan are on the wall (add Limerick’s Brian Begley in the 2007 final), now for Eoin Kelly . . .
Noel Hickey
Position: Fullback
Club: Dunnamaggin
Age: 29 Occupation: Farmer
Honours: 7 All-Ireland SHC (2000, 2002-03, 2006-09) 10 Leinster SHC (2000-03, 2005-10) 5 NHL (2002-03, 2005, 06, 2009) 3 All Stars (2005-06, 2009) Young hurler of the year (2000)
All-Ireland under-21 (1999)
