Cillian Buckley - an old head with youthful enthusiasm

Cillian Buckely has been part of some of the county’s greatest hurling days since making his inter-county debut almost 12 years ago.

From nail biting All-Ireland Final replay victories over Galway and Tipperary, to a last-gasp winning goal which snatched provicial glory from the Galwegians last year, there's little the ‘Maroon Cat’ hasn't seen since joining the black and amber machine.

But, as the Dicksboro star prepares for the start of a new season at home to Wexford on Sunday, the influx of players vying for places in the 2024 panel has re-energised Buckley and his team-mates for the long and likely difficult journey ahead.

“There’s 40-plus guys training there from all clubs in Kilkenny and the younger lads bring and enthusiasm to it that sometimes you need to soak up a bit of and having the lads in from Thomastown, Tullogher and O’Loughlins will re-energise the place aswell so there’s a constant churn of players there and that’s only healthy and good for the set up,” according to Buckley.

Despite three All-Ireland medals to his name, the Dicksboro hurler’s itch to bring Liam MacCarthy home after nine years away is shared across the panel, with Derek Lyng’s charges returning to training in MW Hire Dunmore last November to begin the process of bringing Kilkenny’s long lost orphan home.

“We had a heavy six-to -eight week block (of training) done before Christmas and then a bit of a break over Christmas,” Buckley said.

“We were allowed a few days away training on our own and Richie Reid’s wedding thrown in the mix as well, but since that attention very much turns to games now. We have the hard slog done now with strength and conditioning and now it’s more on field stuff,” he added.

The two-time All-Star had a year to remember in 2023, scoring a spine-tingling 75th minute Leinster Final winning goal to steal the Bob O’Keeffe Cup from under Galway’s noses, while off the field he wedded partner Niamh on the eve of the All-Ireland Hurling Final.

However, despite such highs, Buckley’s influencial appearences all came off the bench in the last campaign, making nine substitute appearences.

“No doubt you want to play, you want to start and you want a jersey, you work so hard in here to get that and to push the group to be a contender but when matchday comes it’s made very clear you have a role to play, be it in the dressing room, getting on for minutes, whatever sort of impact you can play I’ve tried to approach it with complete positivity but that’s not to hide the main goal is to get back in a starting jersey,” commented Buckley.

The Kilkenny stalwart’s determination to regain a starting jersey is further heightended by the increased number of games in the new championship format, a structure that wets the appetite for the defender.

“Back in the championship of 2014/2015 we had more weekends without a game than with and that’s definitely not the case now, we have more competitive games than training so that’s welcomed.”

“It’s a long stint from being away from the club, like the club season here won’t essentially start until Kilkenny are knocked out of the All-Ireland Championship so from that point of view it’s tough on the club guys but at least you know when you do come back you’re giving it 100%, so there are pros and cons to it,” believes Buckley.

The 31 year-old has seen many players come and go during his time with the Cats, and following the introduction of the latest crop of young hopefuls from the u-20 camp, the ‘Boro man is optimistic their presence will bring success.

“They have a bond among themselves, when you win you have a bond and they have that camaraderie there and they’re bringing that into the dressing room, they’re bringing their understanding amongst each other onto the field so I’m benefiting from that, the whole group is benefitting from that.”

“You can see Limerick had u-20 success down through the years and their benefitting from that and it carried through to senior so you’d hope for more of the same and those lads to have the same impact on Kilkenny going forward,” he claimed.

The Leinster Championship cast has a new member this year as Joe MacDonagh Cup winners Carlow join the top ranks of provincial hurling.

Kilkenny’s neighbours are still reeling from a 28 point Walsh Cup defeat to Lyng’s charges early this month, a loss that certainly didn’t raise expectations in the county. So, how will the new kid on the block fair in the heat of championship in Buckley’s eyes?

“I don’t think they had their best hand on show a couple of weeks ago in Dr Cullen Park, they were back from a well deserved holiday so look you’re just not fresh for a couple of weeks but no doubt when we do meet them later in the summer it’ll be a different animal,” he said.

Some things never change in life; death, taxes and Brian Cody in the Kilkenny dugout, or so we thought with the latter, as the ‘Godfather’ of Kilkenny hurling decided to call it a day in 2022 after 24 years service.

But, what about season two of the Derek Lyng regime? Can supporters expect to see much change?

“More of the same we’d hope, the transition from Brian to Derek from a player’s point of view, it was clear Derek carried all of the principles Brian had instilled in Kilkenny hurling down through the years, but at the same time Derek with the management team put their own stamp on it and obviously we benefited from that.

“We were learning Derek’s way, he was learning our way last year, and now we have a year under our belt we can skip that bit and get straight into it,” Buckley concluded.