Four-time Kilkenny All-Star Richie Hogan has made peace with his decision to retire despite watching his former team-mates prepare for next weekend's Leinster final against Dublin.
Speaking at the launch of the 2024 Electric Ireland GAA minor championships, Hogan, who stepped away at the end of last season, said that he would love nothing more than to be running out onto the Croke Park sod in the black and amber, but that reality was keeping him in check.
"I would love to be playing. Jesus, I would love to be playing, but when I think about playing, I'm actually looking backwards, not thinking at what's going on now.
"I had a couple of years where I was doing absolutely everything I could to play, everything I possibly could, and I ran out of juice a couple of years ago. [I] still tried to get as much as I possibly could out of it. If I had packed it in at 32 when the body was breaking down I would have missed it a hell of a lot more.
"But I'm fairly content that I couldn’t play inter-county hurling. Even at club level, I train, it’s enough. We would all love to out playing on the pitch but I'm mature enough to know what it takes and I don't have what it takes, that's for sure."
"Doing all the things normal people do has been brilliant, [but] I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t give it all up in the morning just for a chance to play again.
"It's nice to have the body in good shape waking up in the morning, to be able to get up in a normal fashion and actually be able to tie your laces. I will get bored of this fairly quickly and will try and do something else soon.
"The only games I have been at have been ones where I am working doing commentary and I like it.
"It doesn’t really compare, it doesn’t keep me in touch with the games really. Honest to God, I would give my left arm to be able to play again but I know that I'm not [able], so I'm very content watching games and wishing people well."
While Hogan’s CV contained seven All-Ireland senior titles, his minor haul was limited to Leinster wins in 2004 and '06.
It’s a tournament he keeps a particular eye on – especially with the Cats set for an All-Ireland semi-final appearance in a few weeks’ time – and he believes that the GAA are correct in reminding relevant parties in recent times that player speeches and interviews are against the policy of the association.
"Speeches after games, some of these guys are only junior cert and exposing them to speeches in front of however many people is just a bit much and doesn’t take anything away from the game in reality," he said.
Niall Bergin’s Kilkenny minors are into the last four of the All-Ireland race despite losing two of their three Leinster Tier 1 group games.
They recovered via a longer route in the knock-out stages and their game against opposition to be confirmed will be their seventh of the season, reflecting the expanding nature of minor championship action in a number of codes.
That’s something Hogan is very much in favour of, even if he would like to see a return to some senior-minor double-headers.
"It's all about the games," said the current GAAGO commentator.
"Minor, when I was playing we had one minor championship game in a whole season. Now it's a much better structure, they have the right balance between player development and healthy competition. Everyone has played a fair amount of games and had a fair amount of development.
"Whether on before senior games or not, I think the best thing with those is to judge it as you see it. If Kilkenny are playing Offaly in a Leinster [senior] game and Kilkenny are also playing Offaly in a minor game, it makes perfect sense to put it on beforehand."
With the provincial minor title already in the bag, Kilkenny will be hoping to make it a double on 8 June against Dublin.
Their round-robin match at Parnell Park required a late Eoin Cody goal to really settle it, and Hogan has been massively impressed with Micheál Donoghue’s side, who dumped Galway out of the championship when booking their final spot.
"They are definitely the surprise package," he said of Dublin.
"They impressed me against Kilkenny, that was their best game so far. Their running from deep is brilliant. That’s definitely down to the system that Micheál has created in there.
"The skill level is much higher than it was 10 or 15 years ago. They have added back in the physicality."
"If they have everybody fit and can get everything right on the day they will give most teams a huge challenge.
"I'm delighted to see it, people were thinking maybe they could fade away and be in danger of Joe McDonagh in a few years' time."
Leinster championship teams potentially fading away and what can be done to prevent that has been a hot topic this week.
"It's a really unfair system. There's no relegation in Munster and there's not a word about that, and yet it's okay for the likes of Antrim or Carlow to yo-yo up and down," McManus opined.
"I think we should retain them for a minimum of two seasons. If you come up, you get to stay for a minimum of two seasons, that's how you actually develop an emerging county, you expose them to hurling at the highest level."
Hogan, however, feels that heartbreak needs to come with the territory and that financial investment rather than safety nets is a better answer.
"I would be lying if I said I wouldn't give it all up in the morning just for a chance to play again"
"Hurling is in a great place compared to what it was but if we could really push more money and time and effort into Offaly, Laois and more into Dublin and Antrim and Carlow we would have such an incredible hurling championship.
"I would love to see every Leinster championship going down to the last day. It would be incredible.
"In order to have a great spectacle and great moments you need to have heart-breaking moments as well. Winning is worth nothing if the alternative is you are still in it anyway.
"It's great the way it is and in comparison to the football group stage, where most teams go through, you can really see how much it means to have to win a Munster or Leinster game."
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