TJ Reid had a Croke Park puck-about a fortnight ago, though it was only to give visiting soccer men Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville a crash course in the ancient game.
They were in Dublin, along with Roy Keane, for a show at the 3Arena that evening and Reid, kitted out in full Kilkenny gear, convened what he described as a “great hurling session”.
It was a rare sighting of him in black and amber having skipped the national league so far to rehab from “a few little niggles”, as he has called them.
The veteran poacher’s Ballyhale colleague Adrian Mullen has yet to play for Derek Lyng either. If both were to feature in Sunday’s decider against Limerick, it would nudge Kilkenny up to 38 different players used in the competition, tying them at the head of the league of experimentation with semi-finalists Cork.
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Either way, and regardless of Sunday’s result, it has been a successful campaign for both Kilkenny and Limerick, with the latter currently sitting on 37 different players used.
Grabbing some spring silverware used to be the principal target for the league, but the terms of engagement – for the top teams at least – have clearly shifted with the restructuring of the season. If that isn’t clear yet then consider how often their managers were asked this year if they actually wanted to reach the knock-out stages or, even worse, the final?
Experimentation is the name of the game now and Limerick can be particularly pleased with their efforts. Of the 37 players that they’ve already used, 33 of them have started at least one game. Yet none of the 37 have started all six games.
What that little riddle means is that John Kiely has handed virtually all of his players meaningful game time ahead of what will be another ultra-intense provincial championship campaign, without allowing any of them to get too comfortable in the jersey.
“It’s really exciting to be honest, to see young lads putting their hands up and making the group that bit more competitive and pushing for places on both the team and the panel,” said Limerick defender Seán Finn at the unveiling of Performance Nutrition as the nutrition partner of the Gaelic Players Association.
“You can see the quality that they’ve shown over the last number of weeks, really making themselves known and asking questions of other players as well. That’s only going to be good for the group.”
Within that clutch of players on the outskirts of Limerick’s team, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh has profited most from the campaign, starting their last three games and coming on in the first three.
Micheál Houlihan, son of the Limerick great of the same name, made three starts in all, against Clare, Galway and Wexford, and registered 0-17, while Fergal O’Connor made two.
Lyng has been only slightly less experimental in Kilkenny. Sure, four of his players – Padraig Walsh, Paddy Deegan, Billy Drennan and Martin Keoghan – have been pressed into action for every single game, but the new manager can’t be criticised for failing to look at fringe and rookie talents.
Of the team that lined out in last May’s All-Ireland under-20 final defeat of Limerick, six of them – Aidan Tallis, Niall Rowe, Killian Doyle, Timmy Clifford, Drennan and Gearóid Dunne – started at least one of Kilkenny’s group games this term.
Drennan, taking the frees in Reid’s absence, has seized the opportunity and has 2-65 to his credit so far. Dunne has featured in five of the six games.
Lyng, of course, knows all those newcomers inside out from managing last year’s under-20s and it’s no great surprise either Pat Ryan has been so keen to experiment in Cork.
In his first season in charge, he has handed starts to 35 different players with Daire Connery, Colin Walsh and, most recently, Tim O’Mahony also featuring as substitutes.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, where every single league point counted for so much for Laois, Antrim and Westmeath, widespread experimentation simply wasn’t an option.
Laois, who lost the relegation play-off, used only 28 players overall. Seven of those started every game. Another seven were as good as ever present. Take out the four players who only made one substitute appearance each and that’s a panel of just 24 that Michael Maher effectively worked off.
It was almost exactly the same with Westmeath while Antrim only brought on their 28th, 29th and 30th players of the campaign as subs in their final group game.
National League of Experimentation: Players used by Division One teams this season
38: Cork (35 players started at least one game)
37: Limerick (33 players started at least one game)
36: Kilkenny (32 players started at least one game, four players started all games: Padraig Walsh, Paddy Deegan, Billy Drennan, Martin Keoghan)
33: Galway (29 players started at least one game, one player started all games: Padraic Mannion)
Clare (26 players started at least one game, five players started all games: Conor Cleary, Diarmuid Ryan, Cathal Malone, David Fitzgerald, Aidan McCarthy)
32: Wexford (26 players started at least one game, three players started all games: Conor Hearne, Charlie McGuckin, Cathal Dunbar)
Tipperary (30 players started at least one game, two players started all games: Michael Breen, Ronan Maher),
Waterford (31 players started at least one game, one player started all games: Calum Lyons),
Dublin (27 players started at least one game, seven players started all games: Daire Gray, Chris O’Leary, Cian Boland, Conor Burke, Eoghan O’Donnell, Conor Donohoe, Donal Burke)
30: Antrim (25 players started at least one game, seven players started all games: Paddy Burke, Ryan McGarry, Gerard Walsh, Michael Bradley, Keelan Molloy, James McNaughton, Conal Cunning)
29: Westmeath (22 players started at least one game, six players started all games: Conor Shaw, Tommy Doyle, Jack Galvin, Shane McGovern, Robbie Greville, Davy Glennon)
28: Laois (22 players started at least one game, seven players started all games: Enda Rowland, Donnchadh Hartnett, Padraig Delaney, Jack Kelly, Ryan Mullaney, James Keyes, Stephen Maher)
