Kilkenny RFC host Quenton O’Neale’s De La Salle Palmerston on Saturday at Foulkstown as we head into game week 7 of the Leinster League Division 1 A.
Last year’s 1B champions held terrific home form in their winning season while life in 1A has proved more of a rollercoaster. Without an win on the road, Kilkenny’s two victories from six have come on home soil and it’s possible at this stage of the season that their home form will determine where they lie come March/April, says Packie Hennebry.
It’s beginning to shape like that alright, yeah. We haven’t lost at home in the last seventeen months which is a fair record at home but it’s just a pity we can’t turn that into away games. We’re presuming all home wins would keep us up this year but we can’t guarantee that either.
We’re looking to try and do that on the road as well. We were very disappointed last week against Gorey – we were effectively beaten up on the day.
It won’t be easy on Saturday against De La Salle Palmerston, they’re currently third in the table and looking at their results, they’ve been playing very well this season.
The shift in life back to Division 1A has meant Kilkenny’s fixtures moved from a Sunday to a Saturday, which has also had an impact on the club’s training regime. With Friday typically the busy night of the week (or what was) ahead of a Sunday game, they’ve found themselves somewhat restricted in what they can do on a Friday given a number of the firsts side living, working and studying in Dublin and beyond.
Take a listen to what coach Packie Hennebry had to say ahead of this weekend’s game.
Kick off is 2.30pm at Foulkstown. Kilkenny’s J2 side kick off against DLSP at the earlier time of 1pm while the J3s host Trinity on pitch 3 also at 2.30pm.
