The Ballyhale man will lead the black cats this season.
After a hugely successful season for Ballyhale Shamrocks, Richie Reid has been nominated by the club to captain Kilkenny hurlers this season.
Reid’s club mate, Adrian Mullen, was captain last season, when Brian Cody’s men made it to the All-Ireland semi-final, only to be knocked out by Cork in extra time.
Richie isn’t the only ‘Reid’ to have been given this honour either, as his brother TJ, was captain in both 2010 and 2019, while his other club mate, Eoin Cody, has taken up the role as vice-captain.
This process is of course selected by the clubs, as Kilkenny and Kerry are the only two counties who keep the old tradition of having their county captained by a player from the team that won the club championship that year.
Many view this process to be backward, and believe that the captaincy should be down to the manager’s selection, and not the club.
You can see this point of view more from Kerry’s perspective, as Austin Stacks won the county championship, meaning they got to select Jack O’Connor’s captain for him.
They chose Joe O’Connor, the midfielder who was crucial in the club’s midfield this season, but has not played in as big a role in the Kerry set-up.
Under Peter Keane, last year’s Kerry manager, O’Connor was not a regular starter, but that could of course be different under the new management, and due to injury, he is yet to feature for the county this season.
