Former Kilkenny player Kieran Joyce believes that greater control of games will be the focus for Cats manager Derek Lyng ahead of next month’s All-Ireland semi-final.
Speaking exclusively to KCLR, four-time All-Ireland winner Joyce said that the manner in which the Leinster champions gave up a healthy lead to Galway in the provincial decider will be concerning for the management team.
“All teams have their purple patch in any sort of game, but how can you can nullify that? If that is the case and they (opponents) kind of get that kind of purple patch, how are they (Kilkenny) going to weather that and limit the scores?
“That’s probably the one thing that Derek could be focused on, that period of time where Galway got on top. What can we do differently to, to nullify that or to
maybe to weather that storm a little bit differently.”
You can hear that full interview from 4 pm tomorrow when the Rower-Inistioge man discusses Kilkenny’s season to date, gives an insight into Leinster final match winner Cillian Buckley’s impact on the Cats’ panel, and looks ahead to Saturday evening’s All-Ireland quarter-finals.
We previously spoke with Derek, catching up with him just before the Leinster final, and asked him about giving up leads, which we had seen in the early round match with Galway in UPMC Nowlan Park. Speaking about the six-point swing the Under 20 All Ireland winning manager stated this;
“The reality is when you are playing these teams they will pick off a few scores, 5 or 6 points is nothing these days in a hurling match. When another team gets a run or spell on you, you just need someone to win a free or something to stop that momentum.”
Listen back to the full reaction from Cillian Buckley and Derek Lyng after the Galway Leinster final victory below:
