FORMER KILKENNY HURLER Richie Power says TJ Reid can still play a vital role for the Cats at 37 years of age.

Reid is one of the longest-serving players in the game at present, but continues to feature prominently for Kilkenny, picking up his seventh All-Star in 2023. Power is confident that his former teammate can serve his county strongly again in 2025, but stresses that manager Derek Lyng must utilise the younger players in the team to maximise Reid’s output.

“He’s [Reid] still the go-to man in the Kilkenny forward line and I suppose that’s where Derek will be really looking to build leaders around TJ because there has to be a bit of pressure taken off TJ as well to maybe just worry about his position and worry about winning his own battle, rather than maybe trying to do a little bit more and a little bit more expected of him at the age of 37.

“I certainly think the likes of your Eoin Codys and your Adrian Mullens, you Mossy Keoghans and these guys, you’d be hoping that they’ll make a big step forward, Billy Ryan as well, just to mention another, these guys have to really step up now and become the leaders of this team.”

Throughout most of his career, Reid has been a regular sight at centre-forward and along the half-forward line, but Power would like to see him play in a more advanced attacking position this coming season.

“He’s probably after losing a little bit of pace in relation to trying to get away from a player but I still think someone of TJ’s calibre with his hurling brain, his aerial ability, his hurling ability, I still think he’s good enough to get away with all of that in circumstances and it’s just I suppose how well Derek utilises him, where he decides to play TJ next year and that’s probably going to be the big question.

“If I was Kilkenny next year I’d love to see TJ probably in or around the edge of the square and leave him there and maybe have that aerial threat in around or maybe play him as a roving corner-forward.” 

Henry Shefflin, one of Power’s other Kilkenny teammates, stepped away from his position as Galway manager in the wake of the 2024 season. He guided the Tribesmen to two successive All-Ireland semi-finals in 2022 and 2023 following his 2021 appointment, but lost two Leinster finals, and failed to steer the county out of the provincial series this year.

Power, however, remains certain that he will become the Kilkenny manager at some stage.

“I definitely think we will see it. It could be five years, it could be 10 years down the line, you just don’t know.

“Unfortunately it didn’t work out for him in Galway and people will probably point that it wasn’t a successful period and, again, I suppose, look, personally with the amount of underage success Galway have had, for them not to turn that into senior success, for me it’s a bit of a mystery to be honest with you and I don’t think that should completely fall back on a manager either.” 

Richie Power was speaking following the presentation of a cheque for €3,500 from Richie Power Snr from the proceeds of ‘Power, A Family Memoir’ to the Cois Nore Cancer Support Centre and Carlow/Kilkenny Homecare Team