He's just the eight All-Ireland medals won after eleven seasons hurling at the highest level.
Richie Power, forced to retire at the beginning of the year with persistent knee injuries, appeared on this week's edition of the Hard Shoulder, Balls.ie's GAA podcast.
Among neutrals, the hunger for some variety at the summit of hurling is at its height. Even Tipp, erstwhile aristocrats of the game, come off these days like plucky underdogs when set alongside the rapacious Kilkenny empire.
On the pod, Richie grappled with the popular idea that 'Kilkenny have won more than enough at this stage, thank you very much.'
I've no doubt about it. Probably everyone outside Kilkenny will want Tipperary win on Sunday. But I think the All-Ireland champions in both the hurling grade and the football grade should be the best team in the country. And not a team that people want to win.
They should be happy to see the best team that plays the sport, plays the game up the Hogan Stand steps in September. If you're a true sports lover, that's what you'd like to see.
Obviously, I can understand it from the other point of view as well that people are saying that Kilkenny have won enough and they'd like to see a changing of the guard.
On the pod, he also talked about.
- His regret at not getting a few more years with the club after his retirement from the inter-county game
- The legendary training sessions in Kilkenny
- (Comic aside) Gaelic football - "It's more of a social scene in Kilkenny"
Listen below:
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Richie was speaking on the seventh episode of this year's Hard Shoulder podcast, a weekly GAA podcast hosted by Meath legend Anthony Moyles. The podcast will run for the rest of the season and will feature many more special guests, and scientists [citation needed] believe it will improve your life by somewhere in the region of 84%.
In addition to the big interview, we quiz our guests and discuss some of the big stories to arise from the past week.
Previous interviewees include Dublin's Bernard Brogan, Kildare forward Johnny Doyle, Wexford's Matty Forde, and the Sunday Game's Michael Lyster. Listen here.
You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.
