"Never do anything in training that you can't do in a match - that's no use. The hardest thing that you do in training will serve you well in the game because you'll never be asked to do them as hard again. The easy way happens in a game but, of course, it only seems easy because you have been doing the hard things in training."
"Never play on another man's name. Go out and play your own game. Remember, you'll never be any good unless you play the ball everytime, no matter what. That's the secret of being, and remaining, a good hurler."
"A hurler must work hard at practice sessions. Missing them can never be excused. Dedication to training is common to all forms of sport and can never be over-emphasized."
"I practice each of my shots hundreds of times each week. I like to do the unorthodox and keep my defenders worried. Once I over-ran a fast pass, put a hand out behind since I had no time to look, managed to pluck the ball and then pucked in into the net in the same movement. It looked a really great goal but it was partly luck, partly the fact that I usually attempt what other people might think is impossible."
"I never take my opponents as individuals. I play the game for the team, for the fella alongside me. I make openings for them and do the best I can. I often played on the worst man and he was the most troublesome. Often I played on the best man and I thought he was the easy one. I tell you, when a Tipperary man or a Kilkenny man or a Limerick man goes out there, there's nothing soft about it."
"My advice to young players would be: 1. Develop the greatest possible strength in your arms; 2. Practice swift pucking and striking; and 3. Never hit the ball for the sake of hitting it - deliver it to the right place. To strengthen your arms you must play the ball on the ground - a soft ball that is hard to hit far. One day you might hit the ball ten yards, then twenty but the day will come when you'll drive it 80 yards. You'll drive it that length consistently but you can't do it without making your arms good and strong."
"The 1940 Munster final and replay taught me a lesson I never forgot- that hurling needs courage, heart and a firm belief in ones own ability to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best."
"Hurling has always been a way of life with me. It was never my ambition to play the game for the sake of winning All-Ireland medals or breaking records but to perfect the art as well as possible."
"You can call me a gambler. I try a move a hundred times in training and, when it comes off in a big match, the crowd goes wild and I say to myself - it worked."
"Never take your eyes off the ball - even when it's in the referee's pocket."
"You don't play hurling with your nose." (to Seanie O'Leary after he had broken his nose in a pre-match puck-around at Croke Park. Seanie went on to play, scored 1-2 and helped Cork win the 1977 All-Ireland.)
"My hurling days are over. Let no one say the best hurlers belong to the past. They are with us now - and better yet to come."