Kilkenny is back out in league action this Sunday when they take on Laois in O’Moore Park.
The Cats are coming off a loss to Tipperary in their last league outing, however, they seemed to have righted that wrong against the Premier County in the Dillion Quirke Foundation challenge match the following week. All in all on the day Kilkenny used 27 players in that fundraising game, with manager Derek Lyng giving many players chances to shine. Such as Georoid Dunne, who repaid the faith shown in him by bagging three goals for himself.
There was criticism of the performance that lead to the initial loss to Tipperary from certain fans, who lamented the style of play in the first half of the game in particular. It seemed Kilkenny was trying to implement a short style game that lead to a few mistakes, with historically Kilkenny used to playing a more traditional long ball style.
Eight-time All-Ireland winner Aidan Fogarty believes Derek Lyng won’t regard winning matches in the league as a priority, with the focus instead being to get this new style of play correct for the Championship;
See also: “We have to up the performances now” Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng looks ahead to clash with Laois
“I think everybody learned a small bit from last year. Is the incentive there to actually win the league? In my opinion, no. “
“Is the incentive there to not come last in the league? Well, it does not really matter because you are not going to get relegated.”
“So what is the incentive? The incentive is to build a team that you’re comfortable with, find a couple of players that will stand up for the championship, and get the structures in the way that you want to play. The results at the end of the day, yes, they matter, of course, they matter. But is the league a priority? Probably not.”
Catch Aidan Fogarty, Adrien Ronan, and Michael Walsh live on air this Sunday with coverage beginning at 1.30 with thanks to Laharts.
Don’t forget KCLR is the only place where you can hear full live commentaries of all of Kilkenny’s Walsh Cup, Allianz National Hurling League, Leinster championship, and All-Ireland series games in 2023.
