A year of wins, loses and challenges for James Burke
Kildare hurler James Burke poses for a portrait with the Walsh Cup at the 2026 Dioralyte Leinster GAA pre season competitions launch at the GAA National Games Development Centre in Abbotstown, but unfortunately injury will prevent him from taking part Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
James Burke will remember 2025 with many emotions from the highs of the huge wins with the Kildare hurlers and another win in the Kildare championship for the Naas hurlers but there were disappointments too for the Naas footballers in Kildare and the hurlers in Leinster. While dealing with those loses the former county captain had to face the challenge of the dreaded ACL injury which has kept him out of action since the Joe McDonagh Cup Final. The big Naas and Kildare talisman sat down with The Kildare Nationalist at the recent launch of the Dioralyte O’Byrne and Walsh Cups in Abbotstown and he put the year into perspective.
James, did you believe this time last year that you would be attending the Launch of the 2026 Walsh Cup with Kildare involved?
It wouldn’t have been something I would have been thinking about at the time, Pat. Obviously it would have been nice but we were fully focused on the Joe McDonagh Cup and giving it our best shot. Probably reaching the final was the goal at the start of the year but once we reached the Final, we wanted to win it. It’s a bit surreal to think that we’re now going into the Walsh Cup, Division 1B and the Leinster Championship and Liam McCarthy hurling.
You got to sample the Walsh Cup a few years ago. It’s obviously a huge step up but what has changed since then, you seem to be a stronger team now?
Yeah, it’s just probably work in Development Squads, good minor teams, good U20’s teams and that probably built the foundations of the team we have now. Then it's hard work by the players and Management Team under, firstly, David Herity and now Brian Dowling and the lads. It’s a culmination of hard work really.
Did you think this time last year that you would have achieved Division 1B status in the League and the Joe McDonagh Cup? Were there targets when you started training last season?
Yeah, there were targets. The first one was promotion. No doubt about it going into this year I would have been 100% aiming to be playing Division 1B hurling. Our target then was to reach the Joe McDonagh Final but the message was never about winning it but as we got there, as we beat Carlow, and Laois in the Group Stages that belief started to come. It was always about game by game to try and reach that Final. We know how competitive a competition it is and probably our history in the two years previous to that, where we learned the hard way, that it is so competitive. A couple of points sway can be crucial. So, if you said Leinster Championship this year, I probably wouldn't have fully believed you and I would have been thinking of 2027 maybe, but it is great to get there a year early.
Was there disappointment not to win the League when you got to the Final and did you use that disappointment as an incentive going into the Joe McDonagh Cup?
There is always disappointment because when you’re in a Final, you want to win it. I don't think it was going to ruin our season. The ultimate goal was to gain promotion and then to do well in the Joe McDonagh. We weren’t going to allow a couple of points defeat in the League Final to bring a hangover into the Joe McDonagh because it happened to us before. We had lost to Offaly in a League Final and we were probably really disappointed with that at the time because we went after that League hard. I think maybe the disappointment from that defeat probably rolled into the Joe McDonagh so we didn’t to let this disappointment get to us too much.
Can you put a finger on what happened in that Kerry game in the First Round of the Joe McDonagh?
It's hard to know. It was just one of those days where probably we didn’t show up. The GPS stats were down, and I'd like to think it wasn't, but maybe it was a small bit of complacency from ourselves as players. Considering the result we got against them in the League maybe we thought it was just a case that we didn't need to bring our “A” game but we found that out fairly quickly. We learned the hard way that you have to be on your game every day. We said we’re a good team when we're all on it but we're a very, very average team when we're not on it.
You were never going to be beaten the following week against Westmeath?
Yeah, well we knew that no matter what happened that even if we wanted to stay up, we would have had to win two games so it wasn’t a case of waiting for the last game against Down. We knew that we needed to get back on the horse together. Lads had a chance to grieve after the Kerry game and feel that disappointment but then come the Tuesday night we hit the training hard and that stuck to us. We had a really good start against Westmeath and that probably gave us that belief. I know they clawed it back in the second half but it was good for us to see it out. We had built a lead up against Kerry and against Down in the League Final but we let those games slip away from us in the last 5/10 minutes so it was good for us to see out that game in the manner we did.
When you reflect on that Joe McDonagh Cup Final was that probably the best display of Kildare in the last number of years, especially in the second half?
I think it’s probably up there at the top. To do that on a big occasion in front of a big crowd against a team like Laois and to win in the manner that we did, I think it was the best.
When you look back at Kildare hurling, especially in the last year, what has changed? There had been a yoyo between the Christy Ring and Joe McDonagh and up and down in the Leagues prior to that but 2025 seemed to be different. Was it just the right crop of players, right Management Team, or a belief in yourselves?
A bit of everything, probably. Management working with the same group of players, definitely a bit of belief. The message coming from Management was different, maybe, to what it had been in previous years. It wasn’t about just winning a couple of games or staying up and it was hard work. The buy in from the players was probably there more so this year than it had ever been ever before. If you looked at what lads put in outside the training hours three times a week. We’d meet the Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday but most lads were doing something on Monday, Wednesday, Friday whether it be ball wall or gym or recovery and getting their bodies right for the next session so that played a big part.
It’s a big year in 2026 with big teams coming to town and you're travelling to big teams. Did you get a little bit of a taste of it in that Preliminary Quarter Final when you play Dublin a week after the Joe McDonagh Cup Final, which was unfortunate, really?
Yeah, we did. It was unfortunate in terms of the circumstances of the week turnaround and the celebrations but now looking back, we're fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to see and get a taste for that the next level is and to see that there is a gap there that we have to close in terms of size, physicality, speed, hurling, touch, everything. So, it was definitely nice to get that feel for it and although we shipped a heavy result and didn’t give a good account of ourselves on the day in terms of our performance. Having the opportunity to play there and see that at first hand will hopefully stand to us next year.
There is a lot of commentary around that Preliminary Quarter Final and whether it should be retained. What are your thoughts on retaining that game?
Personally, my own thoughts are that I like the idea of the winners getting to play as it sets them up for the following year and it gives them a taste of what the step up is like and they’re not getting caught cold in the first round of the League. I think for the losers it is very unfair for them to have to go out after losing a Final. I don’t think it does any good for either team really. I don’t know what the solution is but maybe a two-week turnaround and just for the Joe McDonagh winners would be a good idea.
After that Galway game in the Walsh Cup and, depending on how that one goes, it’s straight into the League match against Dublin, followed by home matches against Antrim and Clare. Those two early home matches are important?
Every game will be important, especially games we have at home. Hopefully we'll have a big crowd in Cedral St Conleth’s Park and try and use every little advantage that we have. Those first three games will be vitally important.
I don’t know who has been more often in Ballycran, Seamus Dillon or the Kildare hurlers but you’re back up there again this year?
It’s a tough place to go but that's a challenge that comes with it and we’re going to face that challenge. The results haven’t been on our side up there. I think we might have picked up a win a couple of years ago but I know we've shipped a few defeats there. So hopefully we will go up, put in a performance and come out the right side of the result.
Have you started to set targets for that League with some games you might set as wins?
We go into every game we play with the intention of winning but obviously some games will be a lot more difficult than others. We haven’t really set targets. We have so many games to get through first, challenge games, the Walsh Cup games. We’ll very much take it game by game but there will be no game that we will be going in and not looking to get a performance to win anyway.
In years gone by when the likes of Jack Wall, Pat Dunney and Tommy Carew and others were playing, Kildare were always challenging in the Leinster Championship. Are the players looking to do so again in 2026?
JB: The reason every single man in the dressing room has put so much into Kildare hurling for the last couple of years was to get to that top tier. When you’re playing Christy Ring you want to play Joe McDonagh and when you get to Joe McDonagh you want to step up to Liam McCarthy. Everyone, players, supporters are all looking forward to the year ahead with massive excitement.
There is a body of opinion out there, including my own, that supports the view that teams like Kildare, Laois or Carlow should have some sort of a “bias” when they go up in the League or Championship to help them stay there for a few years. What would you think?
Again, it’s very hard. You can’t reward losing either but I don’t know what the solution is. It is hard for teams to bridge the gap when they’re going up and down but there has to be some sort of jeopardy there that if you don’t perform and win your games there is some sort of punishment. That’s just the nature of sport. If it was like the football, maybe, where everyone gets a chance at the of the Championship and then your Tier Competitions follow from there. I don’t have the answer but it’s a fair point and hopefully one that we won’t have to deal with anyway.
That Joe McDonagh Cup Final obviously has bitter sweet memories for you because you got injured late in the game. How did it happen?
It was in the last 15/20 seconds of the game and I was going into a ruck in the middle of the field and Laois’ Podge Delaney came in as well and whatever way he caught me in the knee it gave way.
With the pain I was in, the first thought was, this isn't good. You're trying to enjoy the immediate celebration afterwards. Then physios came on and they had a look and they were trying to be optimistic, saying hopefully it's the MCL, not the ACL but I think they all knew deep down it was going to be the ACL.
After the operation do you set targets or should you set targets for recovery?
I try not to try not to set time-based targets. It's more in terms of strength, your extension and stuff like that. You want to see your numbers come up in the gym. It’s all science based. I do have a time line target of hopefully getting back for the Leinster Championship. I’m back at the mid phase of recovery now, doing a bit of running so hopefully I’ll keep going onwards and upwards from here.
How does it affect your mentally? Did you reflect back on the illness you had when you were a teenager?
I didn't really reflect back. Injury setbacks are part and parcel of sport unfortunately so I don't think I looked back on it. I didn’t purposely look back. Maybe there was an element there that subconsciously I knew I had to get on with it. My character after a setback is what do I do to get right, what do I do to get back. When I got the phone call to say it was my cruciate, I was obviously upset that night but the next day it was about what do I do to get it right.
During the club championship then you helped out in the background with Naas footballers.
Yeah, I just helped out with a bit of stats. I knew once the injury happened that my club season was finished. It was disappointing at the time and it was tough watching on especially for the quarter finals, semi-finals, finals and then into Leinster. They’re the days you play sports for so it was tough watching on but if I had picked up a hamstring injury a week before a county final that would have been more sudden.
Did you get help or advice from Conal Boran because he had a similar injury from the County Final last year?
Yeah, we chatted about how the knee was feeling and the rehab we were doing and how it was going and what feels normal and what doesn’t feel normal. People asked me would I ever reach out to David Burke or Nicky Quaid but I just listen to my Physios and I trust them.
We know James Burke the county and club hurler and we know James Burke the club footballer but are we likely ever to see James Burke the county footballer?
I’ve given it thoughts but I have never been ready to make the jump across. Hopefully I have another couple of years with the Kildare hurlers so I won’t be able to make that move yet after working so hard to get here. If maybe last year things didn’t go our way and we’d got relegated to the Christy Ring I probably would have made the move across then, if asked, but thankfully I don’t have to deal with that now.
Your brother, Seán, is involved in hurling, your Dad, John, is Chairman of the Hurling Committee, does that drive you on, does that drive the Burke family on? Your mother must be demented with all the hurling talk around the dinner table?
Yeah, Seán is involved with Naas and Dad was a coach all the way up along with Mairtín Boran and a few other lads and Dad has his role as Chairman of the Hurling so it’s hard to get away from it. It is the talk of the table because we have such interest in it but my Mam, Agnes and my sister, Anna, have an interest in it as well so it’s just natural talk at the table. Sometimes you don’t want to talk about it when you don’t want to give too much away but it’s part of our life.
How do you manage the work/life balance?
I’m lucky with the job I have that I can work from home so there is a bit of flexibility. The days I’m training it’s nice to have that option of working from home. It’s time consuming but it's not a sacrifice or it's not a challenge because you enjoy doing it, It’s your hobby.
Finally, James, what’s the ambition for 2026 for James Burke the man and James Burke the hurler?
Well Pat, for James Burke the man it’s to get back to a full bill of health and come back a stronger and better athlete as before and for James Burke the hurler it would be to get back playing a bit of the Leinster championship if I can and make sure that I’m back fully in 2027 and that at minimum were playing Division 1B and Liam McCarthy Cup.
