3 days ago
Late bloomer Huw Lawlor in hurler of the year form
You wouldn't know it by his size and stature – about 14 stone and 6ft2in – or the way he has commanded the air in the centre of Kilkenny's defence in the Leinster championship but Huw Lawlor was small for his age as a boy.
'When he was nine or 10 or 11 years of age, he was tiny,' Kilkenny great Tommy Walsh told Off The Ball listeners on Leinster final day last month. 'He was like Messi. That's how small he was.'
Lawlor isn't going to deny the truth. Photographs of him from his Kilkenny CBS days provide some proof that he was a late bloomer.
'I would have started as a corner-back, I suppose. I was fairly small when I was younger so I was always kind of corner-back. Did a bit of experimenting around the half-forward line when I was in sixth year of school I think. But no, I had a defensive mindset, really.'
The 29-year-old is considered Kilkenny's best hurler this season (Billy Ryan and Mikey Carey aren't too far behind). It's Walsh's relief Lawlor is a better defender because he acts and thinks like a smaller hurler. The player himself doesn't believe his role is one that generates much acclaim.
"I think your focus has to be on the team the whole time,' he says of his position. 'I don't think you're going to get any plaudits in terms of scoring or anything as a full-back... well, some lads are, maybe not me!'
Lawlor wouldn't be aware of the chatter about him being a hurler of the year contender because he blocks out the commentary. He watched the All-Ireland quarter-finals but 'turned it off after the final whistle goes.' Galway's Fintan Burke has spoken of muting the TV when the analysis is done and Lawlor thinks along the same lines. 'I think it's important not to let too much outside noise kind of impact you.
"Obviously, there's loads of narratives out there, different people talking about different things, but we're just trying to focus on our hurling and I suppose listening to the lads in our own bubble is the most important thing.'
As a dietitian in St Luke's Hospital coming on four years, Lawlor is living proof of how nutrition matters although he leaves the work inside the camp to Marie Power and Eimear Nolan as his area of expertise is clinical dietetics.
'If there are any questions from the lads, I just tell them they're asking the wrong person, go ask the dietitian, you know,' he says before adding,
'Obviously, you hear stories of what lads were doing back in the day or whatever, but I think it's an important thing, you might be talking about the 1% thing in terms of making an improvement.
"But look, nutrition is a big part of it now and you're just trying to nail it and not leave yourself short on game day. Coming up to a match especially, there's a few things you're wanting to get right just so you can trust your body that it's going to be right on the day to go for 70-plus minutes.
"It's definitely a crucial factor and something that we're reminded of all the time. Same with anything, you could say it about your training and your sleep and your nutrition, if you leave one short, you're going to suffer down the line. So it's just something you have to nail all the time.'
Sunday is Lawlor and Kilkenny's first championship crack at Tipperary since the 2019 All-Ireland final where the O'Loughlin Gaels man in his debut year was given the job of shadowing their captain Seamus Callanan, who had scored a goal in all of his county's SHC matches to that point.
Although Callanan was scoreless in the first half, he found the net three minutes into the new half. 'Obviously, it was a tough first year,' Lawlor recalls. 'You go in as a defender in your first year, you're going to be challenged in different ways. I took huge learning from that match and every championship match that year.'
Huw Lawlor was promoting the launch of the Circet All-Ireland GAA Golf Challenge that took place in Michael Lyng Motors, Co Kilkenny. This year's Challenge for GAA clubs takes place in Killarney Golf and Fishing Club on October 16 and 17.
