Memories were revived of an occasion in late September 2002, when observers talked of the world’s top golfer meeting the world’s top hurler. As it happened, Carey displayed to Tiger Woods the Liam MacCarthy Cup he had helped bring to Kilkenny, yet again, a few weeks previously.

And at a dinner on the Thursday night of the American Express Championship, from which Woods would emerge triumphant, he presented El Tigre with a hurley and sliotar, something for the richly laden trophy case back in Florida.

Though it seemed unfair, I couldn’t resist asking one of Kilkenny’s finest how the two golfers compared.

“Oh! Wow!” he reacted. Then, after a pause, he said: “Tiger seemed a much more private person. Though I walked inside the ropes with him on that occasion, I never had the opportunity of playing with him. That’s what made this experience with Rory so special. He was so up front, even about his game. Mind you, I would never say what we chatted about.”

After dinner back in 2002, Woods was observed in the car park of the resort’s Hunter’s Yard at about 9.0pm, knocking the sliotar around on the tarmac. “Flip it up,” urged Mount Juliet’s PR consultant, Pádraig Slattery, who, as a Clareman, knew about such matters.

 “Naw, I think I’ll leave that,” responded the golfing genius who produced a remarkable solo effort of his own, by flipping a golf ball in the air with a wedge in a popular Nike TV advert around that time.

With retirement from hurling still some way off, Carey looked to golf as a long-term replacement, which seemed to be a fulfilling prospect, given how quickly he got down to six handicap. Indeed, I remember him talking seriously about one day playing off scratch.

“I have since discovered that you have to be exceptional to make it to the top in any sport,” he said. “Absolutely exceptional. You’ll hear people talking wildly about how certain players were good enough to have played soccer in England, or golf professionally.

“I consider myself lucky to have made it at what I did (which, incidentally, included 22 All-Ireland medals at handball). Sure, I would love to play golf off scratch or better. But when I got down to 1.5 handicap (exact), other things took over my life. I had serious financial issues and health problems for a while. There was a time when I couldn’t afford to be a member of a golf club and to actually play the game. But you never give up on your dreams.”

In between the setbacks, there have been memorable rounds at Mount Juliet. Like a friendly fourball off the back tees in which he had an eagle and five birdies in a round of 68, even with three three-putts. “That would have been my best,” he said.

“Hurling gave me two advantages, eye-hand co-ordination and the physical strength you have in your wrist. I take a size medium glove but from watching me at impact, coach David Leadbetter told me that my wrists were up there with the strongest he had ever seen.

“My best in competition was some years ago when I won the lady captain’s prize to the men’s club. I kept a five off my card, which meant birdies on the four par-fives. But I also bogeyed two of the par threes in a round of 70.”

Carey now seems set to bring his distinguished successor, Henry Shefflin, along a similar road. “Myself and Henry recently played a few nine-hole games at 7.0 in the morning, before we both went to work. The idea was to be in some sort of shape for the pro-am.

“Henry is a beginner but with exceptional potential. He only came into the game last year, but he’s going to do great things if he applies himself to golf.”

With Carey as a mentor, how could he fail?

Meanwhile, McIlroy’s drive on the fifth was clearly very much on Carey’s mind when he returned to the pro-am. “I’m 5ft 11ins, which is a couple of inches taller than Rory,” he said. “That’s what I was thinking as I studied his shot-making, trying to figure how a guy of his build could hit the ball that good. And I wouldn’t be short. It’s exceptional.

“The difference was there, whatever shots we played. Both of us had exactly the same recoveries from the bunker in front of the 10th green, only three feet apart. I was really proud of mine, which pitched on a downslope and ended up 10 feet past the hole.

“Rory landed on the same downslope and almost holed his, leaving it a foot away. How did he do that, I asked myself. It was the same with putting. He was saying that if he didn’t play golf for a few weeks, he’d lose up to 20 yards until he got his swing back to the speed it was at. And here we are, going from our car directly to the first tee where we hit off without a warm-up, not realising it might be nine holes before we’re swinging properly.”

Carey became so absorbed in what the team leader was doing that they had reached the treacherous 13th before he discovered the format of the event. Apparently it was called a Champagne scramble in which only birdies or better counted.

Having trod fairways with Pádraig Harrington, Seve Ballesteros, Colin Montgomerie and Ian Woosnam, among others, was McIlroy the best of his experience? “Ah yeah, ah yeah,” came the emphatic reply. “He has to be. All the other professionals were special, but Rory . . .”

He went on: “It was really an incredible fourball. Of all the players in world rugby, who would you rather play with than Johnny, not least because he reached a much higher level in sport than I did. And he’s a seriously good six-handicapper. Would I like to be giving him four shots in a match? No. I’d prefer to have him on my side, especially with his terrific short game. You could tell he was competitive but what really struck me was the great calmness about him. He proved to be a wonderful companion.”

It was McIlroy’s shot-making, however, and general demeanour that enriched Carey’s day to an extent he had never imagined.

“This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. And as a bonus, I’ve never seen Mount Juliet looking better.”

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