“If we didn’t win an All-Ireland it was a waste of a year, no matter what you did personally or if you won a league or a Leinster. I’ve never witnessed a raw hunger [like that] within a group of lads.”
When Kilkenny went out to hurl, they went out to win. It came hand in hand. Nobody embodied that spirit better than their No.4, Jackie Tyrrell.
The James Stephens man retired earlier this year after failing to add to his nine All-Ireland winners’ medals in September’s final clash with Croke Park. He was on the bench that day and did not get off it.
He knew in his heart that it was time to go.
His chat with Brian Cody – telling him it was all over – was “pretty short” but both men said it all in their clipped conversation. Tyrrell recalls:
“He said some nice things about me, and we spoke briefly about our time, the journey.
“And I thanked him for giving me the opportunity. I said, ‘Brian, in fairness, you put your head on the block for me’.”
Cody’s head [and cap] was on the block, Tyrrell feels, as the defender did not enjoy a stellar underage career and endured a tough time of it in 2006 before helping the Cats to another Liam MacCarthy triumph.
Aged 34 and now a retired hurler, and a fine one at that, Tyrrell will now have more time for his job in Glanbia and is interested in pursuing some media duties to go with his new ambassadorial role with Littlewoods Ireland.
If all that is not enough, he has signed up as a football selector with James Stephens.
“To go from an All-Ireland with Kilkenny to being a football selector with your club team, it’s going from the top to the bottom pretty quickly,” Tyrrell remarks.
It seems like a handy enough gig but don’t be fooled. Tyrrell explains:
“A good friend of mine is the manager. He rang me up and said it to me and I was laughing.
“He said, ‘Look, all you have to do is there’s three selectors, we’re going to break up into groups of three and get the lads out to the matches’.
“‘That’s it?’ I said. ‘I can do that!'”
If any of those three footballers miss a session or a match, expect Tyrrell to pursue them harder than a breaking ball.
Michael Lundy joins Wooly for a wide-ranging discussion that starts with a chat about Ger Loughnane, dodgy transfers and Davy Fitzgerald’s training methods. Subscribe here on iTunes.
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