Power: Timeless TJ Reid has now entered Cats GOAT debate

Kilkenny veteran TJ Reid still has a lot to offer as he signs on for another season with the Cats.

And when he eventually signs off, he may well go down in some quarters as the best Black and Amber hurler who ever graced a pitch. So says his former team-mate, Richie Power.

When Henry Shefflin finally hung up his hurl a decade ago, it seemed unthinkable that any man would ever usurp King Henry and steal his throne. But his fellow Ballyhale Shamrock Reid has continued his own prolific forward play into his 38th year – and plans to do it for at least one more.

Hogan, who soldiered with both, marginally sides with Shefflin on the GOAT argument – but reckons Reid's longevity and staggering consistency will make it a close call when the time comes to have such a debate on high stools around the county.

"When Henry finished and retired after 2014, he was 100% the best and greatest there ever was," Power said.

"What he did off the field, the work he put in, the leadership qualities, everything he brought to the set-up was unreal.

"The one thing that I always remember about Henry is going into training and he was always the first lad on the field, hitting frees and pucking balls over the bar, and he was always the last one on the field at the end of training doing exactly the same thing. That typified Henry for me in a heartbeat.

"TJ has brought it to a different level again, albeit in a different environment, a different structure, a different professionalism. Since I retired in 2015 to today, the professionalism in set ups has really gone to a different level.

"TJ has probably been given scientifically more help in relation to strength and conditioning and that side of things compared to what we would have had, because hurling has