Dec 19,2024
Kilkenny veteran TJ Reid still has a lot to offer as he signs on for another season with the Cats.
And when he eventually signs off, he may well go down in some quarters as the best Black and Amber hurler who ever graced a pitch. So says his former team-mate, Richie Power.
When Henry Shefflin finally hung up his hurl a decade ago, it seemed unthinkable that any man would ever usurp King Henry and steal his throne. But his fellow Ballyhale Shamrock Reid has continued his own prolific forward play into his 38th year – and plans to do it for at least one more.
Hogan, who soldiered with both, marginally sides with Shefflin on the GOAT argument – but reckons Reid's longevity and staggering consistency will make it a close call when the time comes to have such a debate on high stools around the county.
"When Henry finished and retired after 2014, he was 100% the best and greatest there ever was," Power said.
"What he did off the field, the work he put in, the leadership qualities, everything he brought to the set-up was unreal.
"The one thing that I always remember about Henry is going into training and he was always the first lad on the field, hitting frees and pucking balls over the bar, and he was always the last one on the field at the end of training doing exactly the same thing. That typified Henry for me in a heartbeat.
"TJ has brought it to a different level again, albeit in a different environment, a different structure, a different professionalism. Since I retired in 2015 to today, the professionalism in set ups has really gone to a different level.
"TJ has probably been given scientifically more help in relation to strength and conditioning and that side of things compared to what we would have had, because hurling has changed so much.
"But definitely it’s going to be a debate that’s going to continue long into the years to come as to who is the best.
"I find it very hard to compare because, for me, Henry hurled in a different era. Hurling has changed so much. Hurling today, it’s all possession-based, it’s all tactical, it’s all scientific whereas when Henry was in his pomp or in his prime, it was hurling at its best and 15 on 15, some of the best games of hurling that we’ve ever seen.
"Henry just caught the bull by the horns in these games, There were times – 2012 pops into my head, the drawn game against Galway – without Henry that day we wouldn’t have been in a replay. He single-handedly brought us back from defeat to get a replay.
"TJ, his scoring record, his performances day in, day out, having a lot more games with the new structure that’s been put in place is a credit to his endurance as well. Staying injury free and not having had the serious injuries that Henry had throughout his career as well.
"I still think, for me, probably Henry [is the GOAT] and that’s not because I would have hurled all my career with Henry but I just think it was in a time where hurling was at a real pinnacle and was played the way it should be played.
"There were very few tactics, there were no sweeper systems, there was none of this in place when we were hurling and, for me, Henry narrowly shades it but definitely not by a lot."
Reid, on his way to collecting seven All-Ireland titles with the Cats, has proven indispensable since firmly establishing himself in the Leinster kingpins’ forward line throughout the noughties.
If Shefflin’s sheer sorcery earmarked him as a one-off, Reid’s remorseless scoretaking on days good and bad over such a prolonged period has been enough for Power to suggest we may never see his ilk again.
"It’s phenomenal. I’ll be 10 years retired next year, I finished in 2015 and TJ, with his longevity, I don’t think it’ll ever be seen again," Power marvelled.
"He looks after himself so well. His employment is within the fitness industry as well which maybe gives him a little bit more time to do the small things that people wouldn’t see, the recovery and the stretching and things like that."
Reid might well be the youngest 37-year-old in the country, but it’s the oldest story in sport – Father Time is undefeated. If Cats manager Derek Lyng is to squeeze every last ounce of usefulness from one of the most storied careers the game has ever seen, he’ll need to give his ace marksman some help.
"From his own standards, it wasn’t his best season last year but still, again, very, very effective," Power said of Reid.
"He’s still the go-to man in the Kilkenny forward line and I suppose that’s where Derek will be really looking to build leaders around TJ because there has to be a bit of pressure taken off him.
"TJ can then just worry about his position and worry about winning his own battle rather than maybe trying to do a little bit more and a little bit more expected of him at the age of 37.
"The likes of Eoin Cody, Adrian Mullen, Mossy Keoghan and these guys, you’d be hoping that they’ll make a big step forward – Billy Ryan as well, just to mention another – these guys have to really step up now and become the leaders of this team because TJ’s been one of the biggest leaders in the Kilkenny set up in the last 10-12, 15 years. An unbelievable stat to have."
Richie Power was speaking at an event to celebrate the Cois Nore Cancer Support Centre and Carlow/Kilkenny Homecare Team charities, both of which are connected to the book 'Power: A Family Memoir', which was released last year.
