Sligo star forward Keith Raymond admitted after his side defeated Louth to capture the Nicky Rackard Cup that he was 'living the dream'. Lauded for his performance at Croke Park where he scored 1-8 from play against the Wee County to point Sligo to the county's first Nicky Rackard Cup, Raymond thought back to the days when he was watching team-mate Paul Seevers play and thinking whether or not he'd ever play alongside him on the Sligo team. "I remember as a young fella watching Paul Seevers playing for Sligo and wondering if I'd ever get the chance to play alongside him. Now here I was out on to Croke Park with him and with other lads I've grown up with. It was an unbelievable feeling. We were all a bit nervous, but very confident at the same time," admitted Raymond. Raymond made his debut in a Sligo senior jersey at the mere age of 15, and believes that the Yeats County were not about to let this opportunity pass by with each of the players on the team putting in superb displays. "I've been on the panel for five years, some of the lads a lot longer than that, and others have come in more recently. An unbelievable amount of hard work has gone has gone on behind the scenes to make this happen. And it was great that on the big day we wasted none of that work. Every one of the lads had a savage game," said Raymond. As for his own performance on Sunday, the Calry club man was quite modest. "I'm just living the dream. It was one of those days when everything just fell right for me. But it is something I will always remember. I think of people like Joe Kane and Henry Cox who got me started at Calry, and of my mum and her Tipperary family who nurtured the love of hurling, and of my late father. I know he was looking down on me and he would have been so proud. So all in all, it was the perfect day," said Raymond. Tweet

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