The magnificent sevens.
Richie Power’s days as in intercounty hurler may be over, but he can look back on his career with no regrets.
The Carrickshock man explained this week how his dream of playing for his club again may also be in vain after six operations on his knee.
However, while he was on the field of play, Power had the luck to play alongside some of the best hurlers of all time.
We caught up with the Kilkenny legend this week to get his thoughts on selecting a team of men from his playing days across club, college and county.
And he didn’t let us down – his team would frighten any side heading out for a puck around.
We got him to select first an all-Kilkenny affair.
Henry Shefflin and DJ Carey feature, but there is no room for Jackie Tyrell or TJ Reid in his selection.
Richie told us that it would be hard to leave Jackie off, but he would be “a very close third” but “Tommy and JJ will go down as two of the best backs of the game”. Power also mentions that Noel Hickey is unlucky to miss out.
James McGarry gets the nod in goals behind the legendary half-backs.
Midfield sees “definite selection” Michael Fennelly and current selector Derek Lyng share engine room duties, while up front, TJ Reid misses out to the dynamic duo of Henry Shefflin and DJ Carey.
All in all, just the 53 All-Ireland medals on the field.
In the interests of fairness, we then got him to select an alternate VII of non Cats, and it is an equally impressive crew.
Cork, Tipperary, Wexford and Waterford are all represented.
Damien Fitzhenry mans the goal, while Richie had to include a man “who I enjoyed some savage battles with over the years” in the shape of Paul Curran, as well as Cork’s Sean Óg Ó hAilpín.
Shane McGrath misses out by a whisker to James Woodlock, while “one-half of the terrible duo” Jerry O’Connor gets the nod from Cork in midfield.
Up top John Mullane and Eoin Kelly are selected in a team packed full of Munster hurling talent.
And if we were to organise a challenge between the two sides, it would be surely a sell-out.
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