"I was lucky in the fact that I grew up close to Philly Larkin, whose father Fan played for many years with Kilkenny. Fan was very good to us as youngsters and gave us a great interest in hurling. And he was involved in the club, James Stephens, as well. If there were ever any thoughts of giving it up or chucking it in, he would always be there in the background to keep your enthusiasm up. But I'm also a big admirer of Brian Cody, who was another great inspiration for me."

Stephen Byrne (Offaly goalkeeper)

"For me the biggest influence would be my dad, Paddy. He was involved with the club at Bennettsbridge and would always have a few good words of wisdom to pass on to me."

John Power (Kilkenny centre forward)

"As a youngster at school I always got great encouragement, but in the parish of Callan there were a couple of mentors for me in the likes of Tom Walsh and "Diamond" Hayes. But I suppose my hero was always Joe Hennessy. In my eyes he never had a bad game."