By John Harrington
When a hurler’s nickname is ‘God’ in his home county, then you know you’re talking about a pretty special hurler.
Nicholas English, or 'Nicky God' as he was called by Tipperary supporters during the 1980s and 1990s, was certainly that.
One of the best forwards of his generation, he was blessed with speed, skill, strength, and ruthlessness in front of goal.
When we look back now on footage of inter-county matches from the 1980s and 1990s the style of hurling can look quite cumbersome and slow compared to today’s super-charged game.
But English is one of those rare players who transcends the generations. Watch an internet highlight reel of some of his greatest moments and his genius still shines as vividly as ever.
Former Tipperary hurler Nicky English in attendance at the GAA Museum where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame during the GAA Museum Hall of Fame 2019 at Croke Park in Dublin.
He was one of the most inspirational figures behind Tipperary’s famine-ending Munster title in 1987 and All-Ireland wins of ’89 and ’91, feats that recently saw him inducted into the GAA Museum Hall of Fame.
When he looks back on those great days now, it’s with a certain mild disbelief that it all happened so long ago in relative terms.
“Yeah, unfortunately when you look back the first thing that strikes you is, my God, it's all 30 years or more ago now,” said English.
“Life is passing quite quickly. I suppose I'm older than I think I am, basically, is really what it proves.
“Sure, look, it was great to be involved and the most important thing is that it's not really about medals or individual games, but really about friendships.
“The team that I played on with Tipp, all of us came up through the minors and U-21 teams together. And we'd be as friendly now as we were when we travelled together as minors and U-21s.
“A lot of us were from West Tipp which is unusual when you look at it over the longer history of Tipperary hurling to have so many lads come from the area that we were coming from. It was most unusual, especially if you go as well as Cullen.
“We had Ger O'Neill from Cappawhite, Pat Fox, the Bonners, John Kennedy, Joe Hayes, Pat Fitzell. There was a lot of players there or there abouts on the Tipperary team all from that area.
“You didn't have those numbers before and you haven't had since so it was just a very strange phenomenon. We're all very friendly and we've had fantastic craic over the years.
“Everyone thinks they could have won more, but you're lucky to win what you win really. We had great fun too. Every team has plenty of fun and plenty of characters and we certainly had. To this day we still have great fun together.”
Nicky English celebrates with team-mate Cormac Bonnar after scoring the first of his two goals in the 1989 All-Ireland SHC Final against Antrim.
The high-point of English’s inter-county career was when he scored 2-12 in Tipperary’s 1989 All-Ireland SHC Final victory over Antrim, which remains the record for the most scored by a player in an All-Ireland SHC Final.
He finished that match with a dramatic exclamation mark when he scored his second goal by running onto a hopping ball at full-pelt and driving it to the back of the net with a first-time pull before being mobbed by Tipperary supporters who were preparing to invade the pitch.
It remains one of the most iconic All-Ireland Final goals ever scored.
“The ball sat up nicely and the match was already well won at that stage,” said English. “When I hit it, I hit it so cleanly that my only worry was for (Antrim goalkeeper) Niall Patterson because I thought it was going to hit him on the face.
“I was actually pretty close to him and didn't miss him by much.
“I thought this is going to do serious damage if it hits him in the face. So, I was relieved to see it go into the goal, but more relieved it didn't hit Niall than anything else.”
Over the course of his hurling career Nicky English won two All-Ireland senior titles, five Munster senior titles, two National Leagues, one All-Ireland U-21 title, one All-Ireland minor medal, and a remarkable five Fitzgibbon Cups in a row with UCC.
His individual excellence was also recognised with six All-Stars and one Texaco Hurler of the Year Award over the course of a career that saw him score 34-306 in 116 senior inter-county matches.
Perhaps the greatest barometer of a player’s worth though is the respect he’s held in by his former opponents, and English certainly doesn’t lack for that.
Nicky English celebrates after a brilliant moment of improvisation saw him kick a goal against Cork in the 1987 Munster Senior Hurling Final.
Sean O’Gorman played both alongside English with UCC and against him when Cork crossed swords with Tipperary, so he’s better qualified than most to offer an appraisal of just how good the Lattin-Cullen club-man was.
“The first time I played with Nicky was in 1984 when we won the Fitzgibbon Cup,” says O’Gorman.
“I would have played against him before then because Cork used to always play UCC early in the year in a challenge match.
“He was a brilliant player at that time. He was just brilliant. He was quite tall and fast, but what stood out for me was his footwork, it was brilliant.
“He was very good to read the game, he'd always be one step ahead of you. Jimmy Barry-Murphy was very similar in that way.
“I wouldn't say they were brighter than other fellas, they just had the ability to read the game half a second quicker. Any fella that's good, he makes the game look easy, and that's what Nicky did.
“And, in fairness to him, he was a very clean player. He was an out and out hurler. He'd never be getting involved with fellas and he took a fair share of punishment. He just got on with the game and, if you beat him, fair enough.
“He just went out to play, he was a true player. He had a deadly level of skill and was a great finisher as well which made him stand out.
“Nicky English was just a pure hurler.”
