Imagine a Tipperary-themed table quiz. The kind of fundraiser a supporters' club might throw in Boston or Borrisoleigh.
Naturally, there's a picture round. They’re all recent multiple All-Ireland winners you’re told.
There’s Eoin Kelly. There’s Lar Corbett. The Mahers, Paudie and Brendan. The McGraths, Noel and John. Seamie Callanan. But who’s that lad with the red hair?
Jason Forde is 29-years-old, has been hurling at senior level for over a decade, and is arguably now the most important player on Liam Cahill’s team.
He hit 1-06 from play and nine placed balls in the Premier County’s recent league win in Kilkenny, the goal hammered past Aidan Tallis.
Jason Forde adds to his first-half tally with a fantastic goal for Tipperary. pic.twitter.com/KeXgHxItsG
— The GAA (@officialgaa) February 12, 2023
But the Silvermines sharpshooter does not seek the limelight and has taken the scenic route to the top, which perhaps explains his somewhat low profile.
Two-time All-Star Shane McGrath, from neighbouring Ballinahinch, was winding up his Tipperary career just as Forde’s was getting going.
"He would be a quiet guy by his nature," he tells RTÉ Sport. "He wouldn’t be saying too much in the dressing-room, not while I was there anyway.
"He’s a very clever guy, very well spoken but he wouldn’t be roaring or bawling in the dressing-room or spending too much time on social media. I think he likes to do his talking on the field.
"I think there’s a massive respect for him among the group. Paudie [Maher] has come in with the new management. He would have marked him in training, knows the ability he has. I think they are looking at him as one of their leaders this year.
"If the bit we have seen him play in the league is anything to go by, I think he’s going to have a great year. He’s really enjoying his hurling and he’s in the shape to do it."
County minor captain in 2011, Forde enjoyed a golden 2012, winning a schools All-Ireland with Nenagh CBS and Tipperary/Munster intermediate titles with Silvermines. The soon-to-be U21 skipper joined up with the Tipp county seniors the following year, making his championship debut off the bench in the qualifier defeat in Nowlan Park that ended Eamon O’Shea’s first campaign.
He was a scoring substitute in the epic drawn final with the Cats in 2014 and had forced his way into the starting line-up by the next season, scoring two points in the Munster final victory over Waterford for his first provincial medal.
But he was taken off at half-time in the subsequent All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Galway and was an impact sub for all of 2016, scoring two points in the final against Kilkenny as Michael Ryan claimed Liam MacCarthy in his first year in charge.
"He was kind of a child prodigy," Ryan tells RTÉ Sport. "We didn’t get a huge amount off his minor team but he stood out.
"A very decent, nice guy. A well-mannered young fella. There was never any doubting Jason’s hurling ability and how he understood the game. Some guys just have to build their confidence.
"That squad that Jason came into was a pretty established squad. We were doing pretty well and it was a very competitive environment. We had a forward line to die for so it wasn’t easy for him to break through but break through he did.
"I think we make too many assumptions that any young fella that has the talent will automatically get there, once they step onto this development rollercoaster. But few enough actually get a straight run through, for various reasons. Some break down through injury and the intensive training really tests you to the hilt.
"He showed great resilience because it wasn’t always easy for him."
McGrath also thinks Forde found the early days testing.
"I’d say there was a time early on when he could have taken it or left it," he suggests. "There were a couple of years there where he was in and out of the panel.
"He always had an unbelievable strike of a ball in training. If you ever picked up his hurley it’s a tonne weight, the strength the guy had in his wrists.
"But Seamie was in Hurler-of-the-Year form for three or four years. No matter who you were in Tipp he was the main man and rightly so.
"I remember going in first to Tipp and you’re looking around the dressing-room and Tommy Dunne is there. This guy is my hero and now I’m in a dressing room with him. You’re going to have that overawed factor for a little while. Maybe that was the way with him when he started out. Eoin was still there, Larry was still there. These guys who Jason would have been getting his hurleys signed by in previous years.
"You have to get over that and say if I’m here I’m good enough and try to take these lads’ places eventually. In Tipp we would always have known that potential was there but the wider community is seeing it in the last few years."
2017 was to be Forde’s biggest test. A harsh suspension for a tangle with Davy Fitzgerald after the then-Wexford manager came onto the pitch cost him a place in Tipp's championship opener against Cork. Then, in the All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Galway - the sides’ third last-four clash in a row - he suffered the indignity of being brought on and taken off again after less than half an hour on the field.
Forde later admitted that was "tough to deal with", saying he was "angry, embarrassed, the whole lot". But rather than sulk, he resolved to get better, starting a commitment to fitness that these days extends to a part-time personal training job alongside his teaching career.
"I knew there was no point in going back to do the same thing - you’d only end up with the same result," he told the Sun in 2019. "So I met up with a lad from Nenagh, a personal trainer, and just did that bit extra in the off-season. When you get into the season it’s hard to make those changes that maybe you need. That extra training probably stood to me."
Ryan was impressed with Forde’s reaction and its results, promptly giving him the huge responsibility of free-taker ahead of talisman Callanan.
"We did speak about it," he says of subbing the sub. "It was difficult for Jason. It’s one of the worst things that can happen to you, to get brought in and for whatever reason be taken back out. It just didn’t happen on that particular day.
"He was very mature, looked at where he was at and took some measures that allowed him to go to another level.
"Everyone has a couple of areas they can work on. I don’t think he’s your absolute natural athlete who would be equally at home in a 400m race. He has that stocky build and he had to work that little bit harder. He worked exceptionally hard to get himself into the best shape and that’s what made a real difference for him. Putting that work in also reassures you that you’re here on merit and doing everything in your power.
"It was a bit of a crossroads for him but he turned that around. We were very happy with the way he bounced back for us.
"He became our main free-taker in 2018. We needed a different option and it took a bit of pressure off Seamie, or put the pressure on him [competitively] too. Jason had a fantastic technique. A similar style to Eoin Kelly, fabulously strong wrists. It was a gift and we wanted to recognise that.
"We had a terrible year but it was no fault of Jason Forde’s. And he has remained the free-taker."
Incredible long range free from @TipperaryGAA's Jason Forde to level the score in the Allianz Hurling League clash against @OfficialCorkGAA #GAANOW pic.twitter.com/QMQJw8b6Or
— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 15, 2021
McGrath sees parallels in the journey of one of hurling’s brightest stars.
"Everybody knows that TJ hummed and hawed about leaving Kilkenny [in 2012], would have rang Henry [Shefflin] saying 'I don’t think it’s for me’. But then I think he just decided ‘I really want this but I‘m going to have to push myself on my own’.
"They are on different levels, TJ is the greatest hurler of all time, in my opinion, but what TJ did on his own, I think Jason has done on his own as well. They both came in, struggled at the start, went away and pushed themselves away from the group and now are two of the top players in the country.
"They are a great example to anyone in sport that training collectively is fine but if you really want to be up there in the top 5% of players, it’s what you’re going to do on your own and how you’re going to mind yourself that will dictate how good you can become."
Tipperary failed to win a game in the 2018 Munster championship but the rejuvenated half/full-forward, fresh from scoring a goal a game in the Allianz Hurling League and a second Fitzgibbon title with UL, bagged 3-39 in four matches, counting the ‘ghost goal’ against Waterford.
Next year, Liam Sheedy took over and Forde scored 2-67 in eight. He also started an All-Ireland final for the first time, scoring 0-08 (one from play) and setting up the first goal for Niall O’Meara as Tipp fought back to down 14-man Kilkenny.
A second consecutive All-Star nomination followed and he was perhaps unlucky not to make the final selection. A third nomination followed in 2021, most notable for his seven points from play in the Munster final collapse to Limerick. Could 2023 be the year his talent gains wider recognition?
"If Tipp have a good year and get out Munster I think he'll be very close to being an All-Star the shape he’s in," suggests McGrath. "I don’t think All-Stars are his motivation but they are a lovely individual recognition.
"A lot of people in Tipp realise that he is our main man now. I think it’s a mantle that sits well with him. He would be a confidence player and maybe early in his career would have struggled with nerves but I can think he has transformed himself. He’s in the best shape now that I’ve seen him in ever."
"He’s a 90% guy on the frees. A phenomenal striker of the ball with an eye for goal. The power he generates and he’s a really good finisher: he can finish low as well, bottom left or right, make it really hard for the keeper to save.
Jason Forde finds the net for Tipperary after Waterford had a good spell here in the second half.
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 19, 2019
More on @rte2 and highlights on @TheSundayGame at 9:30pm pic.twitter.com/qKIHaxziVF
After several high-profile retirements and a miserable 2022, Ryan hopes that a Tipperary team rebuilding around Forde can bounce back this year.
"He’s an integral guy to that camp," says the Upperchurch-Drombane man. "He’s one of the elder statesmen now and there are a lot of young fellas coming through.
"He's very articulate, a bright fella. Measured in what he says and the messages he’s sending out. I think he has matured very well. None of that would have surprised me.
"The high numbers are attached to the free-takers but he has got five or six from play on several occasions. It finished up being a disaster for us but the 2021 Munster final game against Limerick in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, in the first half he was unmarkable. Everything that left his hurley was a score.
"That’s what he’s capable of. As a back you’re looking for someone to take an extra touch but when somebody releases it as quickly as Jason does you haven’t got a chance. He’s got a great eye for goal and such a hurling brain.
"Liam Cahill has held on to a really decent cohort of the older brigade that have served Tipp so well and has put together a really good panel of young fellas that are champing at the bit to get going.
"I’m hoping between the two that we’ll have a lot of options and the competition in the squad will be ferocious. While it’s still early, the signs that we’ve seen are very positive."
Forde starts this evening at Croke Park, where Tipperary are aiming to make it three league wins from three with victory over Dublin.
There's a long way to go before they can plan a return trip, but the quiet assassin will have a big part to play in the journey.
Watch highlights of the weekend's action on Allianz League Sunday, RTÉ2/RTÉ Player, 9.30pm
