Canice Picklington - A Kilkenny Hurling Legend Speaks

[brokencrossbar1]

What about the new Mart in the Town, are they going to name it after him still?

[muppet]

What about the new Mart in the Town, are they going to name it after him still?

This is an unexpectedly brilliant thread.

[Sidney]

What about the new Mart in the Town, are they going to name it after him still?

It's a little-known fact that the building of the new mart in Thomastown actually caused problems bewteen Canice and Derek Picklington and PJ "Horns" Prendergast.

Derek and Horns didn't want the mart built at all as they felt it wasn't in keeping with the "Ranelagh-sur-Nore" vibe they were trying to create in the media. Canice didn't agree with this at all, coming from a farming background himself. He actually thought Derek and especially Horns were betraying their own farming backgrounds by objecting to it. That caused considerable tension within Prenlington Developments Ltd.

Canice is glad that the mart has now been built as he sees Thomastown having a lot of potential as a melting pot between the best of urban and rural traditions and lifestyles. He's not interested in having the mart named after himself at all as he'd very embarrassed by that kind of thing, but "hurling farmer" and Thomastown native Dick O'Hara is heavily involved in the mart and Canice thinks naming it after him would be due recognition for a man he sees as one of the giants of Kilkenny hurling (and farming).

Hurling farmer Dick O'Hara

[anglocelt39]

Dick was a brave man to rise to the occasion all right, even on the hurling pitch.

[Cyril Farrell fan]

I'd say Canice has plenty of offers of media work like a Sunday newspaper column.
There are just so many games that could either way that he could share his predictions on..

[rrhf]

The women, how many, how often?

[Farrandeelin]

How did he feel when the helmets were made compulsory? I can't remember if he played with a helmet the whole time or not. Diarmuid O'Sullivan had a problem with that anyway.

Did he break many windows when he was a young fella? Was his mammy cross?

[Sidney]

The women, how many, how often?

Canice would have been a bit of a player in his college days at UCD. Some crazy nights at the Ag Ball and the GAA Ball, and of course in Rody's, which he always preferred to Copper''s. Tipperary girls were his favourite. He found it a real turn-on to be raiding behind enemy lines. He had a few women on the go alright, but he'd rather keep quiet about it as two of them are now married to Tipperary players (one current and one former), and of course Rachel would rather not read about it.

He could never figure the D4 girls out at all, though, even though he used to try and impress them by coming into to lectures in his best Ecco shoes and UCD GAA hoodie.

How did he feel when the helmets were made compulsory? I can't remember if he played with a helmet the whole time or not. Diarmuid O'Sullivan had a problem with that anyway.

Did he break many windows when he was a young fella? Was his mammy cross?

Canice used to play without a helmet, but a belt on the eye from Liam Dunne in the 2003 Leinster final would have shaken him up a good bit. After that he decided to wear a helmet and adapted very quickly to it. DJ would have also persuaded him to wear the helmet, having gone through a similar experience. Canice would have heard about Tom Walsh losing an eye in the '67 final and didn't want to end up like that. Canice likes to talk hurling with Tom on the odd occasion that he'd see him down at the local pub Fogarty's - Canice would be of the opinion that even with just the one eye, Tom can spot a weakness or a tactical switch that needs to made better than anybody.

Canice would have been very good about staying away from the windows. He did break one when he was 7, but after that he went around to the back of shed to practice instead of banging the sliotar off the wall of the house. That sometimes upset the cows inside when they were in getting milked, so his father TJ moved him on again to the local handball alley. It was there that Canice honed his skills. He'd be a great believer that an hour a day in a handball alley can bring a lad's skills on no end.

[Jinxy]

The women, how many, how often?

Canice would have been a bit of a player in his college days at UCD. Some crazy nights at the Ag Ball and the GAA Ball, and of course in Rody's, which he always preferred to Copper''s. Tipperary girls were his favourite. He found it a real turn-on to be raiding behind enemy lines. He had a few women on the go alright, but he'd rather keep quiet about it as two of them are now married to Tipperary players (one current and one former), and of course Rachel would rather not read about it.

He could never figure the D4 girls out at all, though, even though he used to try and impress them by coming into to lectures in his best Ecco shoes and UCD GAA hoodie.

How did he feel when the helmets were made compulsory? I can't remember if he played with a helmet the whole time or not. Diarmuid O'Sullivan had a problem with that anyway.

Did he break many windows when he was a young fella? Was his mammy cross?

Canice used to play without a helmet, but a belt on the eye from Liam Dunne in the 2003 Leinster final would have shaken him up a good bit. After that he decided to wear a helmet and adapted very quickly to it. DJ would have also persuaded him to wear the helmet, having gone through a similar experience. Canice would have heard about Tom Walsh losing an eye in the '67 final and didn't want to end up like that. Canice likes to talk hurling with Tom on the odd occasion that he'd see him down at the local pub Fogarty's - Canice would be of the opinion that even with just the one eye, Tom can spot a weakness or a tactical switch that needs to made better than anybody.

Canice would have been very good about staying away from the windows. He did break one when he was 7, but after that he went around to the back of shed to practice instead of banging the sliotar off the wall of the house. That sometimes upset the cows inside when they were in getting milked, so his father TJ moved him on again to the local handball alley. It was there that Canice honed his skills. He'd be a great believer that an hour a day in a handball alley can bring a lad's skills on no end.

[muppet]

Is it true that Canice is the grandson of the great Canice McManus of Gort, on his mother's side?

[Sidney]

Is it true that Canice is the grandson of the great Canice McManus of Gort, on his mother's side?

No. Canice is an old Kilkenny name and the Church of Ireland cathedral in Kilkenny is named after St. Canice. Callan is as far west as his family background stretches. There, are, whisper it, a couple of Waterford and Wexford connections if you go back far enough.

[Sidney]

With the county and club season at an end for Canice, he's decided to take to Twitter. #interesting

https://twitter.com/kkhurlingman

[Sidney]

Canice is delighted with his honorary doctorate in meat management from @itcarlow, presented to him on Friday.

A great day for the family, and the cocktail sausages afterwards were a real treat (Canice stuck to the chicken however as he always watches what he eats in the off season).

[Sidney]

The hurling season is back, the Kilkenny legend is back, and today, in a new column exclusive to Sliotar Magazine and the Mullinavat Bugle (incorporating the South Kilkenny Standard), he reflects on his county's narrow defeat by Clare in Round 1 of the National League.

Canice's Corner - The Canice Picklington Column

A narrow loss but we're happy with where we are right now

February 16th, 2014

Well, the pleasantries have been dispensed with, and the real business of hurling in 2014 has begun.

We started off our defence of the Allianz National Hurling League title with a trip to face Clare today at Cusack Park in Ennis, a real glamour tie and one I'd been looking forward to for quite some time. Sadly, I wasn't able to tog out for the match as I dislocated an elbow on Wednesday night inside in the Park helping up with the clean up efforts after the big storm. There was a bit of the roof still sitting precariously up on a stanchion, and I stupidly volunteered to climb up and remove it, and stretched too far and over extended my elbow. I was quite lucky to make it down in fact. It was a particular disappointment to miss out today as I'd been flying in training. But such is life - you have to take the ups with the downs.

I still thought nothing of travelling to Ennis today to give my support to the team - I wouldn't have it any other way, in fact. Giving a guard of honour to Clare as they ran onto the pitch was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do as a Kilkenny hurler. You take it personally - these are only young lads, and when you hear the media calling them "All-Ireland Champions", it just feels wrong, like an affront to your manliness. Have no doubt, that moment will be at the forefront of our minds all year in our bid to reclaim what is rightfully ours - our All-Ireland title.

We lost out by a point - but we were very happy with the performance. John Jo Farrell had a fine game at corner forward - I like his style of hitting the ball - very similar to Taggy and Welter, and if John Jo can turn out to be half the player they are he'll be one to watch.

Henry was back to his brilliant best, and I particularly liked his little dance during the first half - the man is pure passion, and he's a hell of a mover as well, both on the pitch and on the dancefloor. I'm only sorry I couldn't have joined him out there today.

Padraig/Padraic/Pauraic/Pauric Welsh had a promising debut at centre-field - I think he can be even better than his brother. That was a lovely point he scored in the first half. I was also very impressed with the performances of Michael Welsh, Brian Kennedy, Joey Holden and Mark Kelly - it just shows the production line of young talent in the county is as good as ever, and I'll have a hell of a battle to get back in the team with the likes of them around.

Fair play to Clare - they just about deserved to edge it. However we're very happy with where we are now.

It's been a good start to the year for us, with another Welsh Cup already in the bag. The training this winter has been the toughest I've ever experienced. There's a fire burning inside of Cody like I've never seen before. Beating Galway in Freshford was a great way to get the ball rolling - a day for real hurling men, a passionate and knowledgeable crowd turning up in difficult conditions, but the kind of conditions I love. While I was happy with my five point haul that day it was the return of the King that stole the show. The love that people in Kilkenny have for Henry is unbelieveable. And it's not just down Noreside way either - I was talking to Aaron Kernan who had come down from Armagh just to see the great man's return, and he told me that the respect that true Gaels up north hold for our team has to be seen to believed. That's always nice to know.

The final against Dublin felt like a return home. We hadn't played in Croke Park since the All-Ireland replay against Galway. It felt like it was light years since we'd played there, but it also felt like we'd never been away. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but that's how we all felt. People may say it's only the Welsh Cup, but it meant a lot to us to win it - you never tire of winning trophies

There's been a lot of good hurling action since the start of the year. I was delighted to see the Rower Instioge win the All-Ireland Intermediate title and I dropped down to the Spots for a couple of pints that night before I drove home and left the Rower lads to it. I didn't stay too long as I didn't want to be seen to be gatecrashing the celebrations but I heard they went on long into the night, and I'm sure there were a lot of sore heads the next morning.

'Tis also great to see the success that Tom Mullally has had with Mount Leinster Rangers. Tom is a Kilkennyman of course and we'd consider Mount Leinster Rangers success to be almost an extension of our own.We'll certainly be shouting them on come St. Patrick's Day.

There's been a lot of controversy about the comments of Brian Cody and Eddie Keher, but I don't know why. Look it, they're just telling it like it is, and calling it as they see it, and I know real hurling people would be in agreement with them. Hurling is a man's game and we need to keep it that way. I don't know, perhaps with new teams coming along, the D4 media has latched onto hurling and is trying to make it more like soccer. That shouldn't be allowed happen - the traditional values of the game should be sacrosanct. Daithi Regan called it spot on on Newstalk the other night - hurling doesn't have a problem with its rules, although like Eddie I'd like to see the abolition of the red and yellow cards. They're against the spirit of hurling and aren't needed.

Canice Picklington was in conversation with PM O'Sullivan

[Plain of the Herbs]

Sounds like Canice is an awkward grip-changer like "Taggy and Welter" so.

John Jo Farrell had a fine game at corner forward - I like his style of hitting the ball - very similar to Taggy and Welter, and if John Jo can turn out to be half the player they are he'll be one to watch.