The Friday Interview: Noel Hickey
July 26, 2013
Noel Hickey celebrates after Galway were defeated in the 2012 All-Ireland SHC final replay ©INPHO/James Crombie
After 13 seasons on the edge of the Kilkenny square, the Dunnamaggin clubman has made a surprisingly smooth transition from player to spectator. As one of only three players - fellow Cats Henry Shefflin and Noel Skehan being the others - with nine All-Ireland medals, he is more than happy with what he has got out of the game.
"I'm happy enough in the stand. I'll be there again on Sunday. I don't miss it (playing) that much. I had a great run of it - won far more medals than I could ever have imagined - but it was time to step aside and give someone else a chance," says the 32-year-old farmer, who announced his inter-county retirement in January.
"I had it (retirement) in the back of my mind before the 2012 championship. No matter what happened, it was going to be my final year with Kilkenny and for it to end with a ninth All-Ireland was just unbelievable. I waited for the celebrations to die down before announcing it after the team holiday to New York and Jamaica after Christmas. I just knew my time was up.
"I have to say it was an absolute privilege to have played with so many amazing hurlers and to have been part of such a great team. From the time I first joined the panel in 2000, and found myself marking DJ (Carey) in training, up to the present day, I enjoyed every minute of it."
Of course, Noel's long-time team-mate Henry Shefflin remains on course to become the first player in either hurling or football to win 10 All-Ireland medals this year. Will he get it?
"I hope so," Hickey replies.
"He hasn't played much hurling so far this year, but Henry is one of the greatest players of all-time and if anyone deserves to win 10 All-Irelands, he does. I certainly wouldn't begrudge him of it if he does because he's a brilliant fella and a great ambassador for the sport."
Noel's inter-county retirement means he now has more time to give to farming and his club. The busy harvest season is already upon us and, on these long summer evenings, you're more likely to find him behind the wheel of a combine harvester than at one of Kilkenny's legendary training sessions in Nowlan Park.
"It's a big change," he explains.
"It's the first time I can concentrate fully on the harvest. I don't have to drop everything at 5 o'clock in the evening and head off the training three times a week anymore. I can keep going on the farm until it is dark now.
"I still play with the club and try not to miss any of their training sessions. We had a poor year last year and were relegated back to intermediate. We're hoping to go straight back up this year and I think it's important that I set a good example to the younger players on the team…"
While Kilkenny may not appear to be the unstoppable force they once were, with the recent backdoor victories over Tipperary and Waterford failing to convince the sceptics who have multiplied since their shock Leinster semi-final replay defeat to Dublin, Hickey claims the supporters are loving what they're seeing this summer. And for all their problems - particularly on the injury front - he believes Brian Cody's men are still the team to beat.
"It was a bit of a novelty for Kilkenny to have no game last weekend after all the games they had played over the previous four or five weeks," he reflects.
"It would have given them a chance to recharge the batteries and the extra week should also have brought Henry Shefflin and Michael Fennelly on a good bit in terms of their recoveries from injury. But sometimes you are better off playing every week. You can keep the momentum going and it didn't seem to do Dublin any harm when they played five weeks-in-a-row in winning Leinster.
"As disappointing as it was to lose to Dublin, I think it has been great for hurling to have Kilkenny in the backdoor. The fans have got savage entertainment out of the last few games. With Dublin and Limerick winning Leinster and Munster titles as well, the hurling championship has been given a new lease of life.
"It's a wide open championship - all of the six teams that are left will fancy their chances - and there's fierce interest it."
Noel continues: "Even though they no longer have the same aura of invincibility about them, I wouldn't write Kilkenny off. If they can get over Cork and get the likes of Henry, Michael, Cillian Buckley and TJ Reid back from injury, they will still probably be the team to beat. They will definitely have a big say in it."
When the Cats were last consigned to the qualifiers in 2004 after Michael Jacob's late goal handed Wexford a dramatic Leinster semi-final victory, they regrouped impressively, only to fall at the All-Ireland final hurdle against Cork. Is there a fear they could go to the well once too often again this year?
"Of course there is," admits one of the GAA's most decorated players.
"It took a lot out of us to reach the All-Ireland final in 2004, and there is always the danger of history repeating itself. Having said that, it was always going to be difficult because Cork had a super team at the time. If Kilkenny are going to do it this year, they're going to have to win three more matches and that won't be an easy task."
Hickey contends that Tipperary was the "ideal" draw for Kilkenny after they were knocked out of Leinster by the Dubs.
"They've responded well to the Dublin defeat. Whilst it was the toughest draw they could have got on paper, Tipperary was the ideal game for Kilkenny at that stage because there was no way they were going to let Tipp beat them in Nowlan Park. I was 100 per cent sure they'd win it, and they did.
"If anything, Waterford was an even tougher game. They pushed us to the pin of our collar, but we got there in the end. I reckon there's another gear or two in some of the lads, and hopefully they'll find it."
On the challenge facing the All-Ireland champions in Thurles this weekend, Noel says: "I saw the league game between Kilkenny and Cork in Nowlan Park earlier this year. Kilkenny won, but Cork were the better team.
"I was impressed by Cork that day. They have very fast, nippy players with plenty of skill. They won't have any fear of Kilkenny and will try to drag them around the place. Having Patrick Horgan available is a huge boost to them. It will be a big test - if Cork get a run on Kilkenny they will be very hard to stop. It has the making of a great game."
Noel put Kilkenny's extraordinary success down to Brian Cody's insistence on picking players who never know when they're beaten.
"Brian only goes for players who have a steely determination and a winning mentality in their make-up," he reveals.
"Any lad that gets on the panel has to have those qualities first and foremost. They're a fierce determined bunch of lads. The determination you see in the older players rubs off on the younger lads when they're breaking through."
Like Henry Shefflin, Hickey first came to prominence in Kilkenny's All-Ireland U21 success of 1999. He graduated to the senior squad the following year and went on to make 47 championship appearances, more than any other full back in Kilkenny's history. As well as winning nine All-Ireland medals, he is the holder of 11 Leinster SHC, four Allianz League and two Inter-provincial medals, which he won in the colours of Leinster.
In addition, he has three All Star awards and a Kilkenny SHC medal he won with Dunnamaggin as a teenager in 1997. Eight of his nine All-Ireland medals were claimed on the field. He missed Kilkenny's historic four-in-a-row season of 2009 with a knee injury, and while he didn't start last year's All-Ireland final, he came on as a substitute in the Cats' replay win over Galway.
Noel's brother Canice also won three All-Ireland medals as a substitute, while another brother, Tom, captained Kilkenny in their 1998 All-Ireland final loss to Offaly. The Hickey brothers - Noel, Canice and Andrew - currently backbone the Dunnamaggin team, while John is club chairman. Tweet
