JJ codded everyone after this year's All-Ireland final replay, giving the impression that he was mad for more silverware. Delaney called it a day today following his ninth All-Ireland title. The Irish Times led with the headline 'JJ still hungry for more titles' following a post-All Ireland victory chat with him.
This evening, he announced on RTE's Drivetime that he knew he was going to retire back at the start of the year.
The last couple of days, I’ve just had it on my mind, I just wanted to get it out in the open and now it’s a weight off my shoulders.
It was this time last year I made the decision to give it one more push and see how it worked out.
Whatever happened, I wanted to give myself the chance to have one final shot. I wasn’t happy with how it finished up last year but, if we’d been bet earlier, I’d still have left.
I didn’t tell anyone apart from Aisling my girlfriend.
Delaney said this year was one of his most enjoyable yet, knowing that the end was at hand.
And this year was one of the best, knowing the finish line was in front of me every time but, every time we won it moved one match ahead.
Then, he went onto name the tooughest player he ever played against. He plumped for an iconic Waterford player.
Ken McGrath was the toughest player I came up against and he was very similar to Tommy Walsh in that he could play in the backs and forwards. There’s not many can do that.
Listen to the interview here.
