Seconds after last year’s Leinster senior hurling final, Cillian Buckley lay on the Croke Park pitch encased by his Kilkenny team-mates. As more players piled in, Buckley soon found himself at the bottom of a black and amber man-mountain, his red helmet jutting out from the heap and a massive smile stretching across his face.
In a career that delivered three All-Ireland senior hurling titles, perhaps there was no greater demonstration of Buckley’s standing in the Kilkenny dressingroom as that moment he lay on the flat of his back after the 2023 Leinster final.
In the 76th minute of that provincial decider against Galway, and with the Cats trailing by two, Buckley took possession on the edge of the D and instantaneously set off towards goal. He brilliantly sidestepped TJ Brennan on the 20-metre line, cut inside and then unleashed a bullet to the back of the Galway net. Goal. Final whistle. Pandemonium.
The timing and significance of the goal certainly played a part in the wild reaction at the end but there was something more noticeable in the celebrations because Kilkenny’s outpouring of emotion was largely directed towards one player – Buckley.
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“The players were all so happy for Cillian, they were thrilled it was him who got that goal,” says former Kilkenny forward Aidan Fogarty. “For Kilkenny to win the Leinster final with that goal and for Cillian to be the man scoring it, especially after all the work and effort he would have done unseen in the background for the whole panel, everybody was delighted for him.”
The 32-year-old announced his retirement on Thursday, ending a senior intercounty career that started in 2012.
A former Kilkenny captain, during his career the Dicksboro clubman also claimed eight Leinster senior championships, five National Hurling League crowns and was an All Star wing back in both 2014 and 2015. However, the latter stages of Buckley’s career were curtailed by injury. and for the last two years he had to be largely content with an impact role off the bench.
“Cillian would have been terribly disappointed not to be starting, bitterly disappointed, but he wouldn’t have shown that around the dressingroom,” adds eight-time All-Ireland winner Fogarty. “He would have taken on a role of showing leadership within the group and driving the younger players on, that is why when he got his chance and scored that goal in the Leinster final everybody was delighted for him as much as anything else.”
Buckley made his championship debut against Dublin in the 2012 Leinster semi-final. He was only 19 when joining the senior set-up that season but Fogarty, who had been on the panel since 2003, remembers the spark within the new arrival to the Kilkenny dressingroom.
“The first thing I noticed about him when he came in was just his dedication and his drive, and his ambition to be the best he could be,” recalls Fogarty. “Cillian was so serious about the game, he loved hurling, he really wanted to be on the Kilkenny team. Some players when they come in at first they are happy to sit on the bench for a year or two, go with the flow, but Cillian wanted to be on the team, he was just so dedicated.
“He was a brilliant hurler, a quiet kind of a fella but he did his talking on the field with his leadership. Hurling was everything to him, his preparation and diet and everything around playing the game would have been impeccable.”
Buckley played in Kilkenny’s league semi-final win over Limerick in March this year, and scored a point during that fixture, but it was to be the last game he started for the Cats with his championship involvement limited to coming in off the bench against Dublin in the Leinster SHC.
“If he played badly or lost a game, he would take it really badly, he’d be hurt by it,” adds Fogarty. “That was the standard he was setting himself, it wasn’t just good enough to be playing for Kilkenny, you had to play well and you had to win.
“When Cillian joined the squad, along with Walter Walsh, they brought a fresh energy to the group and that was important at that time. He became a vital cog in that Kilkenny team, and grew to become a real leader.”
Buckley is the first of Kilkenny’s long-serving players to step away from the intercounty scene ahead of the 2025 season, but he may not be the last. Kilkenny fans will hope the likes of TJ Reid, Conor Fogarty and Walter Walsh stick around but it remains to be seen if all three will indeed return next year.
Current Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng praised Buckley’s contribution to the Cats.
“Cillian has been a true servant to Kilkenny and I’m honoured to have had the opportunity to work with Cillian and witness first-hand his commitment to excellence and the high standards he held himself to throughout his career,” said Lyng. “Cillian was a brilliant team player with a great attitude, and I wish him well in his retirement.”
Honours:
3 All-Ireland SHC (2012, 2014, 2015); 8 Leinster SHC (2014-2016, 2020-2024); b (2012-2014, 2018, 2021); 1 Walsh Cup (2017); 1 Leinster U21 HC (2012); 1 All-Ireland MHC (2010) Captain; 2 Leinster MHC (2009, 2010); 2 All-Ireland Senior Colleges HC (2009, 2010); 1 Kilkenny SHC (2017); 1 Kilkenny IHC (2010); 1 Kilkenny U21 HC (2009); 2 Kilkenny MHC (2009, 2010); 2 All Stars (2014, 2015)
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