Brian Cody and Kilkenny welcome Tipperary to Nowlan Park this Sunday.
Having dismantled Waterford in Walsh Park last weekend to get their league campaign back on track, Kilkenny GAA HQ will be hopping on Sunday.
Senior hurling manager Brian Cody says last Sunday’s victory against Waterford has given the squad a new lease of life ahead of Sunday’s game at home to Tipp.
“It certainly does. We have two points and I mean they have what? 4 points? It’s a battle obviously. Tipperary are a top team. It’s going to be a huge challenge for us to go out again next Sunday and take them on, but look, that’s why we play the game, that’s why the lads are looking forward to it obviously and it does lift the team too when you get a good win.”mail.
However, some of Kilkenny’s young guns involved in the Fitzgibbon Cup final won’t be considered for Sunday.
“The college has to be respected”, says Cody.
“We have been looking after these lads and minding them like everybody else as well to be fair. They are just as disappointed they can’t be available to play with their county as well as the college next weekend. We will hand them over to the college and we won’t need to see them again.”
Former Kilkenny senior hurler and KCLR analyst Aidan “Taggy” Fogarty says that the younger players sticking with the squad will gain great confidence from their victory in Waterford last Sunday ahead of Sunday’s clash at home to Tipperary.
“Tipperary, obviously top of the table”, says Fogarty.
“We all know Kilkenny and Tipperary bring something different when they play each other, and in Nowlan Park. The confidence now that this Kilkenny Team is going to get, from the younger players, from a panel and from a unit as a whole – even the backroom team and managers – everything really sets it up for a right battle. It’s some twist from maybe being in relegation and all that to actually being in a play-offs in three or four weeks time.”
Follow all the action of Kilkenny and Tipperary this Sunday in Nowlan Park, live on our Kilkenny frequencies and online at kclrfanzone.com from 2pm with thanks to Lahart’s Volkswagen & Skoda in Kilkenny.
