“Without the club player, you wouldn’t have county players. Without the club player, you wouldn’t have the GAA.”
JJ Delaney is just a Gael like anyone else.
He’s just a club man like the rest of us except he was lucky enough to pull on a Kilkenny jersey for a while. Or for 15 years.
His stint with his county has come to an end and, whilst life has changed considerably in the space of a few months for the Fenians man, he’s just the same, old JJ Delaney. GAA to the core.
“You’ll always go back into your club, that definitely won’t be an issue,” the legendary Cats back pondered life after hurling.
But it’s not like he’ll really get away from any of it. Delaney is still all go with his club hurling, he’s still involved in coaching and, now, he’s Sky Sports’ latest GAA analyst. It’s just the other side of the same of the same coin.
“It’s completely different though,” he explained. “The last 14 or 15 years, you were always kind of getting ready, you had the date on your mind for the first championship game and you were trying to get yourself right for it. It has been different but I suppose you’re putting yourself into the club as much as you can and we have three club games played in Kilkenny already.
“At the end of the day, you knew this was going to come along so you’re just kind of dealing with it as it comes. Earlier on in the league, in January, February and March, you wouldn’t miss it because it’s all the hard slog and hard training that you’re going through. But then when the summer evenings come, we’re having the weather that we’re having in the last couple of weeks, you’d love to be in Nolan Park [on Sunday] but you can’t turn up now having not done the hard slog.
“There are pros and cons with it. I’m very, very happy, I’m happy with my decision and I’m looking forward to going in there on Sunday and soak in the atmosphere. Before, you were kind of wound up coming into the game, you’re trying to focus on your own game but now you’re going in as a supporter. You were 16 or 17, the last time you were going in as a supporter – you start as a supporter and you’re going to finish as a supporter.”
But what a star-studded support Nolan Park will be boasting this weekend when Kilkenny welcome Wexford for the Leinster semi final.
JJ Delaney won’t be the only old hand lining the terraces. Oh no. Alongside him, fellow legends Brian Hogan, Aidan Fogarty, David Herity, Tommy Walsh and Henry Shefflin will be sidelined from the battlefield and looking in from the outside.
“We’d be talking regularly, the six lads that have retired,” Delaney stated. “We have a huge amount in common and we’re going through the same thing now again this year. The last 15 years, we were togging out but now you’re going in your civies and watching the match. It will be interesting. The lads were saying that they were going to go, especially with the first match being in Kilkenny. A lot of them are looking forward to soaking up the atmosphere.
“You see it from a different point of view. When you’re on the field, you’re kind of focusing on your man and your area and you’re just trying to keep your head above water. Whereas, when you’re in the stand, you can sit back and take the atmosphere in.”
Delaney recalls fondly his decade and a half with the Cats. The nine-time All-Ireland winner went into the senior panel with Brian Cody in charge and he left it the same way. He tells stories about the manager and how he was reminded that you only have that famous black and amber jersey for a little while. And how you must make the most of it when you’re lucky enough to have it.
Delaney made the most of his time with that Kilkenny badge alright but, now, it’s just back to business for him. The same way it always is.
“I’m going to try and squeeze as much playing time out of myself as I can with the club,” he said.
“I’ve been a selector at my own club with U21 team for the last three or four years so [managing] is something that I would have an interest in.
“It wouldn’t be in the next two or three years that I’d be doing it but, hopefully down the road, you’d be pulled back into it. You’ll always go back into your club, that definitely won’t be an issue. I definitely will train teams with my club because people have taken time out of their own schedule to train me when I was that age so I’m going to pay people back, especially with your own club.
“Anything bigger than that, you’ll have to look at opportunities that would come up. It’s definitely something that you would be looking at down the road but, again, for the next three or four years, I’m going to try and squeeze as much as I can out of the playing career because you just can’t beat playing, you know.”
JJ Delaney will be in the Sky Sports studio for the live Leinster SHC match between Galway and Laois this Saturday. Sky Sports will show 20 live GAA matches this year as part of a summer of sport which includes golf majors, F1 and international rugby and football.
