To understand the extent of Denis Joseph Carey's fall from grace, you have to appreciate just how high he once ascended.
Simply calling the 54-year-old - who was today jailed for five and a half years, for defrauding 22 people of almost €400,000 - a former Kilkenny hurler, is to underestimate the fame and esteem he enjoyed in Ireland from the early 90s.
Like an American sports star who had his own (even more serious) legal difficulties, many knew Carey simply by his initials: DJ.
The man from Gowran was a forward with the pace of a sprinter, superb skill and an eye for goal.
He made his senior debut in 1989 while still in school but quickly became the Kilkenny free-taker.
Carey scored nine points in his first All-Ireland senior hurling final in 1991, a defeat to Tipperary shortly before his 21st birthday, and was named an All-Star that December.
The Young Irelands clubman hit 1-04 (1-01f) in difficult conditions against Cork to claim his first Celtic cross in 1992 and 0-04 as the Cats retained their crown against Galway the following season.
Despite a quiet final in ’93, he was named Hurler of the Year, having scored a particularly memorable goal against Antrim in the semi-final – he pulled first-time on a bouncing ball across the square by PJ Delaney, and volleyed the sliotar to the net when it came back off the crossbar.
DJ was already the game's biggest star.
That was Kilkenny’s last appearance in a final for five years, as Offaly and Wexford brought democracy to Leinster hurling, but he continued to collect individual accolades.
He was named an All-Star every year from 1991-1995 (twice at wing-forward, once at corner-forward and twice at full-forward) while also becoming a multiple handball champion, and was as much a household name as the Republic of Ireland footballers who had captured the hearts of the nation at two World Cups.
Though there were many fine Gaelic footballers around at the time, Peter Canavan, Charlie Redmond and Maurice Fitzgerald, to name just three, there was no single player who stood out as much as DJ did in hurling, until Colm 'Gooch' Cooper came along for Kerry in the following decade.
Carey was keen to make the most of his high profile in an amateur sport, and in 1997 was one of the few GAA players at the Irish launch of Kevin Moran’s ProActive sports agency. He would later be a founder member of the Gaelic Players Association and promote numerous brands.
But in February 1998, having recently earned his sixth All-Star, he made the bombshell announcement that he was retiring from the inter-county game, aged just 27.
Carey later told The Sunday Game that "the fun was going out of it a bit" and that he felt he had been shouldering the blame from supporters for Kilkenny’s lack of success.
"This was something I was putting a huge amount of time into and was just getting an awful lot of hassle. You got anonymous letters in the door. You met people you didn't know that were giving out. You met people who didn't know you, who were talking about you beside you when you were having lunch.
"You learn later on to harden up and take it, not take it too personally. When you're involved and things don't go well for you, it's still raw."
Carey had also been running a cleaning products business for five years, and made what proved to be an ominous observation about the challenges involved.
"On a Friday, you were leaving your own business and wondering where you'd get money on Monday morning to pay bills. On a Sunday, you were going out, hitting frees and thinking of Monday."
Carey changed his mind on retiring and returned to the Kilkenny panel for the National League, just six weeks later, after reportedly receiving 25,000 letters urging him to reconsider. He scored 2-01 as they beat Offaly in the Leinster final but the tables were turned in the first all-Leinster All-Ireland decider as he was held to five frees.
They lost another the following year – DJ pointless in a 0-13 to 0-12 defeat to Cork in heavy rain that would pass as a half-time score these days. Rookie Henry Shefflin had taken over on the frees.
That was Brian Cody’s first campaign in charge but Carey was man of the match (1-04) as they ended the losing streak in the year 2000, gaining sweet revenge over Offaly with a 5-15 to 1-14 hammering. He was crowned Hurler of the Year for a second time and also named an All-Star for the second year in a row.
The Cats surrendered their crown to runners-up Galway in 2001 but bounced back to win the next two All-Ireland finals, against Clare and now hot rivals Cork. Carey won his ninth and final All-Star in 2002, a record that has only been surpassed by Shefflin.
In 2003, he lifted Liam MacCarthy for a fifth time and only one as captain, cries of ‘DJ, DJ’ ringing around Croke Park. But the triumph was somewhat soured by tabloid coverage that day of his separation from wife Christine, mother of his son and current Kilkenny star Mikey.
Carey played for two more seasons, losing his ninth All-Ireland final to Cork in 2004 and called it a day at 35, having been held scoreless in the semi-final shootout loss to Galway in ’04. His championship record was 34 goals and 195 points in 57 games,
Post retirement, he earned money as a pundit and brand ambassador.
He continued to manage his business, DJ Carey Enterprises, which his then partner Sarah Newman – the self-made millionaire founder of needahotel.com and future TV Dragon – was a director of, until it went into liquidation in 2011, after six years of losses.
The couple had built up a property portfolio but were unable to service the mortgages after the financial crash and AIB Bank secured a judgement against them for more than €9.5m in May 2011.
It appears that by around this time, Carey had begun falsely telling people in Kilkenny that he had a terminal illness and needed money for treatment.
The couple called off their engagement, and separated in 2012. Newman recently told the Irish Independent that she made a formal complaint to gardaí that year that he had been lying to people and asking for money, which she claims was not followed up.
AIB had sold several of Carey and Newman’s properties before writing the remaining €6.4m debt down to €60,000 in 2017. It seemed things were getting back on track.
He had spells in hurling management, leading Carlow IT to two Fitzgibbon Cup final appearances, in 2017 and '19. He also took the Kilkenny Under 21s/20s in 2018-2019, winning a Leinster title in the latter year, and was a senior selector under Cody in 2020.
But in September 2023 Carey was charged with multiple fraud and forgery offences over an eight-year period. Today he was sentenced to five and a half years in prison, for what judge Martin Nolan called a "reprehensible fraud" that "exploited the good nature of people".
The hurling world is generally forgiving of its heroes.
Former Tipperary goalkeeper Darren Gleeson managed Antrim and Laois after being given a three-and-a-half year suspended prison sentence in 2017 for obtaining €10,000 by deception from an elderly man in 2013.
Five-time All-Star Kyle Hayes has continued to line out for Limerick despite receiving a two-year suspended sentence (in March last year) for violent disorder.
But there’s no example of a current manager or player who has actually served time, never mind one as high-profile as Carey.
When the Kilkenny All-Ireland winning team of 2000 was presented to the crowd at Croke Park last July, his absence was glaring.
One of the sport’s greatest players has tarnished his legacy, and may not get the opportunity to be involved with it again.
