Carlow and Mount Leinster Rangers hurler James Hickey paid tribute to Kilkenny for their attitude to lower tier counties.
Hickey won a Leinster club title with Mount Leinster Rangers in 2013, as well as an All-Ireland intermediate club title in 2012 and a couple of Christy Ring titles in the late noughties.
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Speaking on the RTÉ GAA podcast, he credited the benevolence of their illustrious neighbours for aiding their remarkable rise.
"I'd love to see more Kilkenny men involved at national level and having a bigger say. Kilkenny approached us in 2001 to go in and hurl in a junior league. And we took it in open arms.
"They invited us in. We went in and studied their ways. You play every match and it's like a championship match. After the match, there's tea and sandwiches. Ned Quinn was the chairman down there. They've huge respect for Carlow and what we're trying to do.
"They took us under their wing and brought us in there. I said it on air when we won the Leinster final in Nowlan Park that what they (Kilkenny) had done for the lower tier which has been huge."
Hickey is optimistic about the future of Carlow hurling but argues that 2017 was a missed opportunity for the county.
Carlow won their third ever Christy Ring title in June, defeating Antrim in the final. However, Hickey says that instead of propelling themselves forward, they descended into party mode and rested on their laurels in the comfy environs of bonus territory.
They failed to capitalise against a callow Laois team.
"For the two weeks it was a party - between the Christy Ring final and the Laois game. It was a pure joke what went on.
"They came up to play a Laois team that had nine U21s, all their big guns missing. Laois went down to 14 men and Carlow should have pushed on and won it.
"The atmosphere was, 'we've done what we have to do, we won the Christy Ring. Next year will be our year.'
"And now the whole thing (championship) is restructured again. If they had pushed on that day, they would have been meeting Dublin. And Dublin were lacking confidence!
"You have to play for the year that's in front of you. That was a great opportunity for Carlow. Win the Christy Ring. Yeah, c'mon and beat Laois! And then come in and have right rattle against a Dublin team that was under huge pressure. Huge, huge pressure.
"But no, didn't do that."
