Seamus Hickey has retired from intercounty hurling

Limerick defender: ‘My dream off the field has now grown bigger than the one on it’

Limerick hurler Seamus Hickey has retired from intercounty hurling after 13 years with the reigning All-Ireland champions.

The 31 year-old was a part of this year’s All-Ireland winning squad - with the 2014 All Star and 2007 Young Hurler of the Year helping his county end a 45 year wait to lift Liam MacCarthy.

The Murroe-Boher clubman made 44 Championship appearances in all, and the Munster winner in 2013 and former chairman of the Gaelic Players Association, released the following statement via the GPA on Tuesday:

“It has been God’s great blessing and an enormous privilege to wear the Limerick jersey from my teenage years through my entire adult life.

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“It is an even greater blessing to have been part of an incredible group of people in 2018 and to deliver to Limerick what the proud sporting county deserved: the Liam MacCarthy.

“I have now decided to step away from the Limerick senior hurling panel. I am eternally grateful to my club Murroe Boher, to the GPA for their incredible support and guidance, to the exceptional teammates I’ve had, the inspiring managers, the perennially selfless backroom teams, the successes, the failures and everything I have learned along the way.

“It was all made possible by the phenomenal support I receive constantly from my extraordinary wife and children, my parents and my family. They have given so much of themselves so that I could live my dream. My dream off the field has now grown bigger than the one on it and I look forward to being the very best husband, father, brother and son I can be.”

Eamon Donoghue

Eamon Donoghue

Eamon Donoghue is a former Irish Times journalist