AT SOME STAGE this year, barring injury, TJ Reid will return to being the Championship’s all-time leading scorer.
Patrick Horgan retired last September with a 21-point lead in his long-running head-to-head with the Kilkenny icon but acknowledged it won’t stay like that for long.
“Oh, it’s gone,” said Horgan of his record, with absolute certainty. “I’m happy to have had it when I finished up so, as of now, it’s nice to have. But it’ll be gone in a few months.”
Horgan could be definitive because he knew that Reid, six months his senior, was planning to return for a 20th season. Not that the individual scoring record provided any sort of motivation.
“I’m coming back this year to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup, I’m not coming back to hit 21 points,” said Reid. “I’m coming back to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup and to help the players do that. If I pick up bonuses along the way, great.”
But what if the All-Ireland dream doesn’t work out? Kilkenny are only fourth favourites after all, behind Cork, Limerick and holders Tipperary. And they haven’t won it in 11 years. Will the juice still be worth the squeeze then?
“Look, if I was to go out at the top, I would have went out years ago, with Ballyhale and with Kilkenny,” responded Reid. “No, that doesn’t come into it for me. Even if I don’t win this year, I’ll still try to come back next year.”
Back in 2022, when Reid became the oldest outfield player to start an All-Ireland final under Brian Cody, former Kilkenny player John Power suggested the forward could play on until 40. That doesn’t seem so outlandish now and Reid isn’t viewing 2026 as any last hurrah.
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“No, you can’t (think that way),” he said. “If that’s the case, you’re putting a cap on things and you put pressure on yourself. I don’t want to put a cap on it. If I go to 40, 50 … any athlete thinking that way is putting a cap on yourself and putting an end date on things. I’m very positive about myself and looking forward. If I can get to 40, great. Then I’ll see after that.
James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“For me, I reflect on myself, number one. If that fire isn’t there and that love goes, don’t go back. Because to be an inter-county hurler, you have to continually do the small things each day, each week, every month, day in and day out. And I’m still doing that.
“My professional job allows me to do that. The health and fitness industry is what I do, so I live and breathe it, which helps. I’m not in a car driving hundreds of miles a week, or I’m not in an airport going to work events here and there. I’m very much at work, at home, family, play hurling. And enjoying every element of it.”
Reid’s remarkable club statistics were published in the match programme for the Leinster final last December, when Shamrocks played St Martin’s. Before that game, he’d registered 14-235 from 41 Leinster and All-Ireland series games with his club, across 20 years.
His inter-county numbers are even more staggering because despite not winning an All-Ireland in over a decade – a healthy county career for most players – he still has seven medals tucked away.
And yet, if he is to be believed, the journey to success is always far more enjoyable than reaching the destination.
“Going training, going out and doing more on a cold night and getting a good hard session in, there’s more fulfilment from that because probably millions of people are sitting home in front of a fire and we’re outside doing something for a greater cause,” said Reid. “And there’s great satisfaction from that.
“And that’s what I love. Obviously the weather the last two weeks has been miserable, but that’s what I love. I love going and challenging myself on those nights because that’s what you have to do. And then, for me, the games are easy because you have all the work done, you have all the boxes ticked.”
Kilkenny will face Limerick tomorrow, in Limerick. It’s a derby game of sorts in the Reid house because his wife, Niamh de Brún, is from the Ennis Road in the Treaty City. When they got married in 2021, they celebrated afterwards at Adare Manor.
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“I won’t be playing on Sunday, so there’ll be no biting nails,” said Reid of tomorrow’s Division 1A encounter. “I’m not involved. So look, she’s moved to Kilkenny, so she’s probably more of a, well … I know I’m saying this now, but she’s more of a Kilkenny woman than a Limerick woman.”
If that’s dangerous territory, Reid is on surer footing with his own fitness. He’s building it up, slowly but surely, and expects to be back available at some stage next month.
“I’m hoping to be back for the middle of March, please God,” he said.
Just in time to help Kilkenny shoot for a seven-in-a-row of Leinster SHC titles. Their dominance of the province has been overshadowed somewhat by their lack of All-Ireland success.
“Yeah, look, we won Leinsters, but I think everyone in Kilkenny wants (an All-Ireland) … there’s a little bit of impatience at the moment,” accepted Reid. “This year we need the Kilkenny fans to really get behind us. I know everyone’s talking about a little bit of negativity and a bit of impatience at the moment, so we need our supporters out in droves this year to drive us on.
“The crowd can almost bring an extra player on the field so that’s what I’d be hoping for as captain, to try to get all the fans back supporting us as best we can.”
Even the most demanding supporters had to cut the players some slack over the scoring error late in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat. The Croke Park scoreboard incorrectly registered a Tipperary wide as a point, leaving the Kilkenny players thinking they needed to score a goal. They only lost by two in the end.
“I’m playing a long time now and that’s the first time I’ve witnessed something like that, please God it doesn’t happen again,” said Reid. “You just have to wipe it clean. You sacrifice an awful lot, so you deserve to be a little bit pissed off over what happened. But it happened, and we moved on, and Tipp won the All-Ireland final.
“Look, it (Tipp winning the All-Ireland) does give you a bit of confidence. There’s no 100 per cent improvements required. If we can improve by five per cent, that’s all, it’s very little.”
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'I'm coming back to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup, I'm not coming back to hit 21 points'
AT SOME STAGE this year, barring injury, TJ Reid will return to being the Championship’s all-time leading scorer.
Patrick Horgan retired last September with a 21-point lead in his long-running head-to-head with the Kilkenny icon but acknowledged it won’t stay like that for long.
“Oh, it’s gone,” said Horgan of his record, with absolute certainty. “I’m happy to have had it when I finished up so, as of now, it’s nice to have. But it’ll be gone in a few months.”
Horgan could be definitive because he knew that Reid, six months his senior, was planning to return for a 20th season. Not that the individual scoring record provided any sort of motivation.
“I’m coming back this year to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup, I’m not coming back to hit 21 points,” said Reid. “I’m coming back to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup and to help the players do that. If I pick up bonuses along the way, great.”
But what if the All-Ireland dream doesn’t work out? Kilkenny are only fourth favourites after all, behind Cork, Limerick and holders Tipperary. And they haven’t won it in 11 years. Will the juice still be worth the squeeze then?
“Look, if I was to go out at the top, I would have went out years ago, with Ballyhale and with Kilkenny,” responded Reid. “No, that doesn’t come into it for me. Even if I don’t win this year, I’ll still try to come back next year.”
Back in 2022, when Reid became the oldest outfield player to start an All-Ireland final under Brian Cody, former Kilkenny player John Power suggested the forward could play on until 40. That doesn’t seem so outlandish now and Reid isn’t viewing 2026 as any last hurrah.
“No, you can’t (think that way),” he said. “If that’s the case, you’re putting a cap on things and you put pressure on yourself. I don’t want to put a cap on it. If I go to 40, 50 … any athlete thinking that way is putting a cap on yourself and putting an end date on things. I’m very positive about myself and looking forward. If I can get to 40, great. Then I’ll see after that.
“For me, I reflect on myself, number one. If that fire isn’t there and that love goes, don’t go back. Because to be an inter-county hurler, you have to continually do the small things each day, each week, every month, day in and day out. And I’m still doing that.
“My professional job allows me to do that. The health and fitness industry is what I do, so I live and breathe it, which helps. I’m not in a car driving hundreds of miles a week, or I’m not in an airport going to work events here and there. I’m very much at work, at home, family, play hurling. And enjoying every element of it.”
Reid’s remarkable club statistics were published in the match programme for the Leinster final last December, when Shamrocks played St Martin’s. Before that game, he’d registered 14-235 from 41 Leinster and All-Ireland series games with his club, across 20 years.
His inter-county numbers are even more staggering because despite not winning an All-Ireland in over a decade – a healthy county career for most players – he still has seven medals tucked away.
And yet, if he is to be believed, the journey to success is always far more enjoyable than reaching the destination.
“Going training, going out and doing more on a cold night and getting a good hard session in, there’s more fulfilment from that because probably millions of people are sitting home in front of a fire and we’re outside doing something for a greater cause,” said Reid. “And there’s great satisfaction from that.
“And that’s what I love. Obviously the weather the last two weeks has been miserable, but that’s what I love. I love going and challenging myself on those nights because that’s what you have to do. And then, for me, the games are easy because you have all the work done, you have all the boxes ticked.”
Kilkenny will face Limerick tomorrow, in Limerick. It’s a derby game of sorts in the Reid house because his wife, Niamh de Brún, is from the Ennis Road in the Treaty City. When they got married in 2021, they celebrated afterwards at Adare Manor.
“I won’t be playing on Sunday, so there’ll be no biting nails,” said Reid of tomorrow’s Division 1A encounter. “I’m not involved. So look, she’s moved to Kilkenny, so she’s probably more of a, well … I know I’m saying this now, but she’s more of a Kilkenny woman than a Limerick woman.”
If that’s dangerous territory, Reid is on surer footing with his own fitness. He’s building it up, slowly but surely, and expects to be back available at some stage next month.
“I’m hoping to be back for the middle of March, please God,” he said.
Just in time to help Kilkenny shoot for a seven-in-a-row of Leinster SHC titles. Their dominance of the province has been overshadowed somewhat by their lack of All-Ireland success.
“Yeah, look, we won Leinsters, but I think everyone in Kilkenny wants (an All-Ireland) … there’s a little bit of impatience at the moment,” accepted Reid. “This year we need the Kilkenny fans to really get behind us. I know everyone’s talking about a little bit of negativity and a bit of impatience at the moment, so we need our supporters out in droves this year to drive us on.
“The crowd can almost bring an extra player on the field so that’s what I’d be hoping for as captain, to try to get all the fans back supporting us as best we can.”
Even the most demanding supporters had to cut the players some slack over the scoring error late in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat. The Croke Park scoreboard incorrectly registered a Tipperary wide as a point, leaving the Kilkenny players thinking they needed to score a goal. They only lost by two in the end.
“I’m playing a long time now and that’s the first time I’ve witnessed something like that, please God it doesn’t happen again,” said Reid. “You just have to wipe it clean. You sacrifice an awful lot, so you deserve to be a little bit pissed off over what happened. But it happened, and we moved on, and Tipp won the All-Ireland final.
“Look, it (Tipp winning the All-Ireland) does give you a bit of confidence. There’s no 100 per cent improvements required. If we can improve by five per cent, that’s all, it’s very little.”
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Ambition GAA TJ Reid