DJ hits all the high notes

Even when he should be at his most vulnerable, DJ Carey is in control. Here he is, standing in the dressing-room of the All-Ireland hurling champions, minus the helmet and all the other safety accessories with nothing more than a towel wrapped around his torso, and Carey is the guy calling the shots.

The jibes fly around his head. "If any of you voted to leave him off the team of the Millennium, then you should leave," comes one quip. Ah, you could say that DJ is so good that he's been saved for the new millennium but, then, the words of his manager come to mind.

Only a few minutes earlier, amid all the whooping and hollering that goes with winning, Brian Cody's quiet words are recalled. "The guy is just something else . . hurling should thank God for giving us DJ Carey," were the words that the manager used.

Who could argue?

This is a player who can catch a ball while on the flat of his back, leap into the air and in one synchronised action propel the sliotar over the bar - Kilkenny's 14th point, DJ's fourth - and send the black and amber supporters into raptures. The Offaly banner on the new lower tier of the Hogan may have said, "We're gonna rock DJ," but Carey was the one doing all the rocking.

Carey leans back against the wall. He's been here before, experienced the joy of winning; the bitter pill of defeat. The two back-to-back defeats are still too fresh in the memory bank not to make this the sweetest win of all. "I suppose it has to be the greatest occasion of all for the team, to be able to perform after the last few disappointments," he says.

This is a match that provided some redemption to Kilkenny's players. Despite a fear that they had put themselves into a corner, put too much pressure on themselves in the run-up to the match, Carey begged to differ. "I never put myself under any pressure. Brian (Cody) didn't either. But all week I was saying that I'd do my part and if everyone did their part, then we would be there or thereabouts. If there is not a certain amount of pressure on any individual, then I don't think he's up for it.

"All year we've been in the same frame of mind. We were disappointed after last year. We played great hurling all the way up to the All-Ireland final and there were no complaints because we were beaten by a better Cork team on the day . . . you come up as determined as possible and it mightn't work for you. Today it did, and right from the start. When you get a start like that, it makes things a lot easier."

He was only a relative nipper when he won back-to-back All-Irelands with Kilkenny in 1992 and 1993. Now 30, Carey is able to savour the moment. The all too brief "retirement" of two years ago seems a long way away.

"You play this game for the present, not the past, and this is a fantastic occasion. On days like this, you feel you can go on forever. My official time (to retire) will come down the road. But as long as injuries hold up and I stay fit, I'll be there. I'll go on for as long as I am wanted. In a few years' time, a new management team will come in and they might want to break up the system. That's fine.

"But I can't ask for anything more than I've got out of the game. I have played in six All-Irelands and won three and that's a fair record. I'd love to play in 10 and win five, that would be nice."

No doubt, there will be more good days, and more bad days, ahead. Yesterday, Carey was part of a full-forward line that was on fire. Just how good a full-forward line was it? "Absolutely fantastic," comes the reply, "but a full-forward line, or any line, can only be as good as the line that's in front of them and we got terrific ball in to us today. When you're getting that sort of supply, it gives the forwards a fierce advantage." Thing is, Carey and company were able to finish the business. And that's what wins matches.

The start, of course, was the key to it all. And that is what Kilkenny had set out to achieve all week in their final preparations. "Brian is an absolutely huge motivator. We were all thinking positive for the occasion and we felt if we got off to a good start then some Offaly heads might fall. We got that good start and when a performance like today's comes, then what can you say?"

Not much, other than that the privilege was all ours. The golf course may be calling him again now that the Liam McCarthy Cup has been reclaimed, but the top cat still looks as if he was born with a hurley in his hand.