Kilkenny senior hurling manager Derek Lyng cut an optimistic figure in the wake of Sunday’s Walsh Cup second round victory over Laois.
Having sought improvements for his side following victory over Offaly in the opening round, Lyng watched on as Kilkenny and Laois went score for score in the first half at Rathdowney yesterday before pulling away in the second half to seal a 3-31 to 2-21 win.
More goals from Galmoy’s Billy Drennan and one off the bench for Tullaroan’s Gearóid Dunne helped to put daylight between the sides after the restart but by the final whistle, Lyng was happy to have introduced more new faces and get more miles on the legs of his current panel of players.
“It was a good display, the attitude was really good from everybody and we got to see a good few players again today”, Lyng told Scoreline after the game.
“As the game went on, we got better, which is good to see. Our hurling was a bit better but the reality of it is that we haven’t a huge amount done. Hopefully we can keep improving week on week.”
Laois had put it up to Kilkenny in the first half of the game, knocking over early scores and leading after 26 minutes, but despite their exit from the Leinster senior championship last season, the performance didn’t come as any shock.
“I’m not surprised (about Laois), they have really good hurlers. They’re only down in the MacDonagh (Cup) this year, unlucky to come down last year but they have a lot of experience there and a lot of young players coming through”, says Lyng.
The win means a 100% start to the year for Kilkenny with two wins from two in the pre-season competition. Wexford’s defeat of Offaly yesterday means that this Saturday’s game under new floodlights at Wexford Park will decide who gets to face Henry Shefflin’s Galway in Croke Park on Saturday 28 January.
“Everybody is taking the Walsh Cup as preparation for the league so we won’t read a huge amount into it but at the same time it’s nice to get minutes into lads, get a decent display in and we look forward to Wexford. Going down there next week will be another good game for us.”
A limited number of terrace tickets for that game have been released by Wexford GAA but you can catch it live in full on KCLR this Saturday evening from 5.30pm with thanks to Laharts, the home of Volkswagen and Skoda in Kilkenny.
We’ll be recapping the game with Michael Walsh on Full Time this evening with Martin Quilty, just after the 6pm news on KCLR.
