Main cause of stress:
Trying to make time for everything is the most difficult thing. We train four or five evenings a week, I run my own business in sales and then there's the family, so it's fairly intensive.
We have two boys, aged two and three-and-a-half. When you're training, everything has to be arranged around it. Time for family is very limited.
But I'm not saying it's a hard life: it gives a good lifestyle and it's great to be involved in the sport in a county like Kilkenny.
I don't get too nervous before matches. My most nervous match was the first time I played in an All-Ireland, in 1991.
I've played in six All-Irelands since, and in a way it gets harder, because every match reminds you that you have less time left to play.
I've been playing for 12 or 13 years .
Coping with stress:
People's expectations don't stress me. I'm my biggest critic, but I don't put myself under any extra pressure. I go out to do my best and hope it's good enough. There's no point worrying about it.
I don't have any rituals before games. I just get up and do what I have to do.
Team members don't put stress on each other. We all expect a certain amount from one another, but we know , and we just concentrate on that.
Pressures in amateur sport:
It's definitely more stressful for people in amateur sports, compared with professional players.
We have to work as well, so if we get injured, it might affect our jobs. Professional players don't have to worry about that.
I have always suffered badly with injuries, but nothing too serious. If you did a survey on GAA players around the country, though, on the numbers of work days they lose from injuries, it would be very high.
In conversation with Alison Healy