Kilkenny U20 hurling manager Derek Lyng has been praising the efforts of his side in their Leinster final win over Wexford on Monday night, but knows they’ve got more to do with Limerick standing in their path.
“We’re thrilled. Obviously, (it was a) very, very tight finish and we made life hard on ourselves but in fairness to Wexford, they never gave up and kept coming at us”, Lyng told Scoreline in the aftermath of Monday night’s win.
SEE ALSO: Read about and listen to Kilkenny’s 1-13 to 0-15 win over Wexford
“The reality of it is, we were probably looking at the clock and trying to see it out and you can’t do that. We kind of stopped playing for a few minutes but we got the break at the end. Overall, I thought we were the better team, we’ve got a lot of improving to do for the next day but today was about getting the result and I’m thrilled with that.”
“It was only a week after the Galway match and I knew the next one was going to be a difficult one. We knew Galway were on the horizon for us. We built ourselves up mentally, and physically for that game and it takes its toll. A lot of (these lads) are only 18, 19 years of age and it’s only been a week.”
“I’m thrilled with them. Their attitude has been super and they gave everything again tonight. Tomorrow morning, we’re getting ready for an All-Ireland. We know we have work to do and it’s a great place to be.”
Kilkenny will have ten or eleven days to get for an All-Ireland final where they will take on Limerick, having lost to the Munster champions in the 2017 decider, but you’ll have to go back to 2008 and Croke Park for the last time they claimed the title.
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