The big news from the hurling world broke last night with Kilkenny county board naming the successor to Brian Cody, the first senior hurling managerial appointment for the county this century.
A six-time All-Ireland winner as a player with the Cats, and having guided Kilkenny’s Under 20 hurlers to All-Ireland success earlier this year, Derek Lyng has been named as the new senior boss.
See also: Derek Lyng confirmed as new Kilkenny senior hurling manager
His selectors and backroom team will be named at a later stage but we caught up with clubmate and former inter-county teammate Aidan ‘Taggy’ Fogarty as the news broke last night and he’s been telling us that Lyng will be bringing his own style to the role.
“It is a new regime, things will be different. I do not think will Derek will change a whole lot. he is going to keep the core principle. These will not be Brian Cody’s core principles, these will be Dereks.”
“He just strips back everything. There is no high-flying magic touch that he will bring to it. He will just want honest guys on the field and I think he has that with Kilkenny.”
Adding to his point Fogarty says Lyng will be bringing a wealth of experience to his new role.
“He has been through the mill. He has played the game at the highest level. He has won All Irelands and All-Stars. Was a selector under Brian Cody so he would have learned from that. Most recently winning the u20 All Ireland. He is honest, he is real.
“It is a great appointment and I’m actually delighted he has gone in there.”
Last night’s county board meeting also saw O’Loughlin Gaels’ Niall Bergin returns as Under 17 manager for the year ahead while a new Under 20 manager will be named in the coming weeks.
Speaking of his backroom team and the under 20 managerial role, what becomes of Micheal Rice who was with Lyng on the under 20 setup? Listen back to Rice’s full career retrospective with Eddie Scally on The Clash Act podcast below :
