And we are on the road to Croker once again.
Derek Lyng has led the Cats to another All-Ireland final, the first for him as manager, after a tense encounter against Clare at GAA headquarters on Sunday. A goal from Kilkenny captain Eoin Cody proved decisive in the Noresiders’ 1-25 to 1-22 win.
However, the headlines were dominated by one fantastic piece of shot-stopping. Eoin Murphy’s save in the dying embers of added time ensured the Cats’ chance of revenge against John Kiely’s Limerick side in a repeat of last year’s final.
Eoin Murphy with one of the greatest saves you will ever see to deny Peter Duggan!#GAANOW pic.twitter.com/SS47zPDUk2
— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 9, 2023
See also: Kilkenny’s Eoin Murphy named KCLR Electric Player of the Week
We spoke recently with former Kilkenny goalkeeper, All-Ireland winner and All-star, PJ Ryan. The Fenians clubman is also no stranger to stunning saves himself.
PJ Ryan’s with another contender for best-ever hurling save. Also gave possibly the best goalkeeper display in an All-Ireland final in 2009 pic.twitter.com/c5oSHSAstl
— OurGame.ie (@OurGameHQ) September 30, 2022
When catching up with PJ, the importance of puck outs in the modern game came up, and in particular, where Eoin Murphy could be delivering them.
“There’s an awful lot of emphasis on puck outs at the moment. You could have the ball 30 times in your hand during the game, so you can dictate the play.”
“We (Kilkenny) have a very good half-forward line that can win their own ball so Eoin can drive it long. As we’ve seen this year now, the way Kilkenny are hurling, they’re very comfortable on the ball. So you can do both, you can go long and short. It doesn’t really matter.”
“If we are winning it long, I would keep going long, why wouldn’t you? If you were not, we have the options to go on short as well and Kilkenny have gone very good at playing it through the lines. “So we have loads of options on the ball, and Eoin (Murphy) will know better than anyone else, or better than me, for that matter. He’s playing the game, so it is no bother to Eoin.”
Listen back to the full interview below on Scoreline Extra:
