Thanks Tony.

To be born in 1973 has to mean one thing. Greatness! However for one person that was born in 1973 he stands head and shoulders above everyone else.

Ok, the first part may be a bit of a joke, but the second part is no joke.

Waterford down the years has produced some fine hurlers, many of who we like to claim to be up there with the All-Time greats. While many were good, some were excellent, few in fact were great, but of the greats we have produced, Tony Browne ranks amongst them.

This evening, (April 17), an announcement was made that Tony was retiring from the inter county scene having served the county as a senior hurler since 1991. In that time anybody that had the privilege of seeing him playing, will know that he will be a loss to the game.

Tony first played for Waterford at senior level during the 1991-92 National Hurling League. However it was in the autumn of 1992 that he came to National prominence when he captained the county as a 19 year old to All-Ireland u21 glory beating Offaly after a replay at Nolan Park.

Since then he has gone on to become one of the all time greats, admired not just in Waterford and by Waterford supporters but across the county and even through the planet by anyone that got to see him play in the flesh or on TV.

In the that twenty plus years he has won many honours with Waterford and with his club side Mount Sion, but the one medal that he would have liked to have in his collection at the end of his playing days never came his way.

The popular Mount Sion man will continue to play with the Monastery Men this year and the way he has started for them this year, the year could end in a special way.

Ballygunner and De La Salle may be the early contenders to lift the Waterford News and Star but under no circumstances should the chances of Mount Sion be spoken down. They reached the semi finals last year and were somewhat unlucky to loose and if they can stay clear of injuries this year then they could go a step or two further than they did in 2013.

Tony has started a number of the sides in attack this year and had featured strongly when it comes to scoring. To date he has won seven senior hurling medals with Mount Sion and one Munster Club medals but if he was to add to this before the year is out it would hardly be the surprise of the year.

However, while Tony has had an impressive career with Mount Sion it is for his exploits with Waterford that he will be best remembered going into the future, especially with those outside the county.

Since 2002 he was part and parcel of sides that won four Munster Senior Hurling Finals, the first coming in 2002 which ended a famine going back to 1963 and the most recent came in 2010 when Waterford beat Cork in a replay at Thurles, the first and so far the only final to be played and won under floodlights.

2007 was a special year for Tony as he won the third of his Munster Final medals and was also part of the Waterford panel that won the National Hurling League against Kilkenny in Semple Stadium, the first Waterford won since 1963, and he also won his fourth Inter-provincial medal with Munster, his three earlier medals were won in the period between 1995 and 1997.

While he well remembered for captaining Waterford to All-Ireland glory at under 21 grade in 1992, many forget that two years later he won a second Munster Medal this grade of hurling.

1998 was also a special year in Tony’s career with Waterford, as he was part of the team under the guidance of Gerald McCarthy that reached a League Final against Cork in Thurles but had to settle for second best on the day.

In the same year Waterford contested its first Munster Final since 1989, playing Clare at Thurles. The two sides on the day had to settle for a share of the spoils, but when they replayed, Waterford lost out in a game that proved to be very controversial.

That loss meant Waterford had to play Galway in an All-Ireland quarter final in Croke Park and their prize for winning that game was an All-Ireland semi final against Kilkenny.

This was a game pre the great Brian Cody era with Kilkenny. Waterford were beaten on the day, but to this day it is a game that many Waterford supporters believe was a game that should be won. Kilkenny went on to be beaten by Offaly in the All-Ireland final, an Offaly side that included a number of players that Waterford had beaten in the under 21 All-Ireland Final six years earlier.

The performance of Waterford in 1998 made Waterford sit up and take notice. Gerald McCarthy in his second year in charge of the Déise side had the side playing some of the best hurling it had in many years. Results improved and along the way, had Waterford that bit of luck we would not be now talking about a famine that extends back to 1959.

These performances made the adjudicators of different awards sit up and take notice of the Waterford players and in particular those of Tony Browne. It must have been an easy task for them to name the Mount Sion man as the Player of the Year.

In the years that followed, Waterford had a number of near misses in trying to end that long famine. The chances were there in 2007. We all have our theories on what should or shouldn’t have happened that year, but it is all Water under the bridge now. There is no point in going back in saying what should or should not be done. What happened, happened.

Twelve months on, Waterford did reach the All-Ireland Final, but on the day, the side froze. The occasion may have got to them, and Kilkenny went on to record one of the easiest win in a long number of years in All-Ireland Final day.

I have no doubt that in the coming hours and day’s many tributes will be paid to Tony Browne, paid to him by people far more qualified that me. However, I am sure that just like me, hurling supports up and down the country and beyond will be paying their own tributes.

For now, I am sure that many supports will join with me in thanking Tony for his impute into Senior Inter County Hurling since the day he made his Debut coming on for Damien Byrne during the course of the 1991-92 League season. In the years that followed, Tony has given much pleasure to many supports. The simplest tribute that we can pay Tony at this point is to say ‘Thanks for these memories’ and no doubt like me many will look forward to seeing Tony in action over the course of the rest of the year and going into the future, and maybe we might even see Tony involved with the county again in some capacity going into the future. If he ever showed interest in a position at inter county level it would be a major mistake to over look him as his experience, and would surely get out of young and coming players who have looked up to him for many years, the best out of them.