Latest news with #Lyng
Extra.ie
a day ago
- Sport
- Extra.ie
Kilkenny boss claims Munster final conclusion was unfair
Kilkenny's reward for a sixth Leinster hurling title in a row is a likely semi-final with Limerick – but Derek Lyng felt sympathy for the vanquished Munster giants after what he felt was an unfair end to the game. Lyng's team overcame Galway in Croke Park on Sunday, winning by eight points in front of 37,503 spectators. A largely subdued affair was in complete contrast to the drama that played out in Limerick the night before, when Cork won on penalties after extra time. Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng reacts during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Kilkenny and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile The net result is a place in the quarter-finals for Limerick, and they will be unbackable favourites to win that, against one of Dublin and Kildare. That would set them against Lyng's men in the last four. And the victorious Kilkenny manager suggested that a fairer way of deciding the match would have been a replay. 'I think it's hard on players,' he said of the penalty shoot-out. 'I know we have a new system in place and we're kind of caught for time but I just think we're a bit too caught at the minute. 'It made for a great spectacle, but I think to be fair to players, the replay would have been more fair to them.' 7 June 2025; Cork captain Robert Downey lifts the Mick Mackey Cup after his side' victory in the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship final match between Limerick and Cork at LIT Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile Limerick will be expected to put aside that disappointment and prevail not only against the winners of Dublin and Kildare, but also Kilkenny in a semi-final. And the tepid nature of much of yesterday's Leinster decider in contrast to the pyrotechnics in the Gaelic Grounds will do nothing to temper that belief. Lyng, though, was adamant that his players have been tested properly ahead of the expected challenge to come. 'I think it's probably taken for granted that we're going to go win these games, but a huge amount of work goes into it, particularly from the players,' he said. Walter Walsh in action for Kilkenny. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile 'We lost to Wexford, and against Dublin we would have been disappointed with a spell in that game as well, and likewise today, so, regardless of who we were playing, we know we're going to have to find another gear or two for the next day, and that's the reality of it.' Galway, meanwhile, look certain to face Tipperary in a last-eight tie with the Premier County facing Laois in a preliminary quarter-final before then. Micheál Donoghue denied that the job facing him on his return to Galway is bigger than anticipated after a desperately flat display in which his side went 36 minutes without a score from play. 19 August 2018; Galway manager Micheál Donoghue and Joe Canning of Galway following the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Galway and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile Donoghue feels they are not as far behind the leading teams as many believe. 'No, I wouldn't say it's a bigger job,' he said. 'Obviously, the disappointment of today and I suppose the narrative will be that it's probably similar to previous years and previous teams. 'But look, we know what we have in the squad and we'll try and take the positives out of it as we move forward.'
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Kilkenny dominate Leinster but questions remain about readiness for All-Ireland semi-final
Kilkenny would have you believe this championship is more three-legged stool than two-pony field. We know the sturdiness of the Cork and Limerick legs. Their robustness was reexamined and reaffirmed on Saturday night. The third leg, though, remains without weight pressed down upon it. Kilkenny bookended another Cup-on-the-bus Leinster campaign with another comfortable victory over Galway. An aggregate 20-point winning margin against their supposed closest challenger. Cork and Limerick players watched Saturday's penalty shootout sitting on their backsides such was the collective exhaustion from 90 minutes of on-the-edge and over-the-edge combat. Kilkenny, a day later, skipped out of Leinster with an average winning margin of eight points. Aside from 20 second-half minutes against Dublin in Round 4 and 11 minutes from Galway yesterday, Kilkenny had no honours level Leaving Cert paper put in front of them. They've not been extended or exhausted by anyone. Limerick, barring an upset, will be their All-Ireland semi-final opponents in four weeks' time. Right now, Kilkenny, through no fault of their own, are thoroughly unprepared for that exam. Derek Lyng, as you'd expect, took a different view. 'I think we have,' he replied when asked if Kilkenny have been sufficiently road tested in reaching the second last weekend of the championship. 'From the start of the Leinster campaign, we're always spoken about as being favourites. But we put a huge amount of work into each game, and we prepare for each game like any other. It doesn't matter who you're playing. 'It's probably taken for granted that we're going to go out and win these games, but a huge amount of work goes into it, particularly from the players. We've been tested in different games, at different stages. 'We lost to Wexford, and Dublin we would have been disappointed with a spell in that game as well, and likewise today, so, regardless of who we are playing, we know we're going to have to find another gear or two for the next day. We go into a knockout phase. Everything ramps up. 'We're Leinster champions, and that was the objective, but at the same time, we know we've a lot of work to do.' Lyng is excited to roll up the sleeves and commence that work. Kilkenny's League concluded on March 9. They had six weeks to themselves before the championship threw in. They threw in with a 12-point hammering of Galway. Lyng will hope this second block of training will have at the end a performance to surpass that of Nowlan Park on the championship's opening weekend. It will need to if they are to be involved in the championship's closing weekend. 'This year we've had a very competitive squad and training has been really good, so we just need to probably pick it up again. During the campaign, you don't really get a chance for lots of games [in-house]. You're going week to week, it's nearly about recovery more than anything else. 'But in the run-up to the Leinster campaign, we had a good run at it, and coming into the first game against Galway, we had a lot of work done. We hit the ground running, and we need to get back to that now, use the next couple of weeks to build that momentum again and raise the standard. 'It's a great place to be. The alternative was you'd be out in two weeks and it would be do-or-die.' They were never in danger of being back out in two weeks. Fintan Burke batted away the first three balls that rained down on top of him and TJ Reid. But Reid's 33rd minute catch drew a game-ending save from Éanna Murphy and rebound finish from Martin Keoghan. After Galway's 1-6 burst to bring the margin to four, it was TJ who caught Eoin Murphy's puckout and offloaded to Adrian Mullen for the score to break Galway's streak. It was Martin Keoghan who again followed in for his second and the game's decisive goal. At the far end, there was a fielding exhibition from Huw Lawlor. Brian Concannon, in the process, was reduced to anonymity. 'They were massive catches. It's a brilliant skill to have, somebody that can attack the ball and just pluck it from the sky like that. 'I do remember one in particular, he came up the field and Billy Ryan finished off a super score. For any full-back coming out, it's important that he gets it to a teammate because if you're turned over, you have to be careful of that, but it was a great score. 'It's about the team all the time, defending together and attacking together, so Huw was well able to travel up when he needs to. 'I thought the bit of resilience there to take back the game under our control near the end was very positive as well.'
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Lyng happy to win 'cagey' Leinster final and move into All-Ireland series
Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng urged his side to "drive on" to the All-Ireland semi-finals after securing the Leinster title with a 3-22 to 1-20 victory over Galway in the final at Croke Park. Far from perfect, was the verdict from the Cats boss who felt that the game failed to ignite in the first half, but was pleased with his side's second-half performance. Or at least until Galway staged a comeback, of sorts, as they hit 1-06 unanswered in the final five minutes, before Kilkenny eventually responded and clinched a third goal to secure the victory. I'm delighted," said Lyng, speaking to RTE Sport after the victory. "Particularly in the second half, we worked really hard and upped it a lot. It was probably a cagey first half, but overall, really pleased. "The panel have put in a huge effort. Our ambition at the end of the league was to go and win a Leinster, and now we're into the All-Ireland series, and we know we are going to have to step it up again. "We just about did enough. Obviously, near the end there making life a little bit hard for ourselves, but we tend to do that at times, but that's the sport and our response was quite good as well." Kilkenny move straight into the last-four of the All-Ireland by virtue of winning the provincial crown and they will have to wait and see who they will face for a place in this year's decider. But in the meantime, Lyng feels the hard work will continue and go up a notch as the competition for places builds with a strong panel and others expected to return over the course of the next month. "It wasn't perfect, we know that, but certainly parts of it we were pleased with and now we have to drive on for the next four weeks," said Lyng. "We're doing a huge amount of work the last couple of years but in particular, there's lads coming of age and we have a strong squad, and it's very competitive at the moment and we need to continue it. "Competition drives everything in training, and hopefully we have a few lads back the next day as well. "We have a big month ahead, the competition is there, and once we get over today, that's in the background. "We're looking forward then, and we'll have a competitive few weeks, hopefully." Galway manager Michéal Donoghue had no complaints after watching his side come up short at Headquarters, and will now face a quarter-final encounter against Tipperary or Laois later this month. Donoghue echoed Lyng's appraisal of the opening 35 minutes, calling it cagey, but was essentially disappointed with his side's overall performance. "It was a bit nip and tuck and a bit cagey by both teams," said the Galway manager. "On reflection, we were disappointed with the way we played, and we didn't implement the style we wanted to play. "But you have to give huge credit to Kilkenny, they showed the gap in the experience of where they are as a team right now, and the goal before half time gave them the cushion. And they started well in the second half and pushed it out to 12 points. The lads rallied really well and brough it back to four, but they conceded another 1-01 quickly, and that was game over. They showed the quality and experience that they had and a few of their big players stood up and got a few great scores to push it out again. Donoghue said that he would try to take the positives out of the Kilkenny game and remind the players of their challenge to employ a more imposing style earlier in the game. "Of course, we'll take the positive out of it, but we know the journey we are on and we have to be up for the challenge every single day and try to impose yourself early in the game. "That is something we'll reflect back on and be sorry for, but we'll get back training this week and look forward to two weeks' time."
The 42
2 days ago
- Sport
- The 42
Who will be the next generational talent to emerge in Kilkenny hurling ranks?
SHORTLY AFTER MICHAEL Fennelly retired in late 2017, he put a final message into the Kilkenny senior hurlers WhatsApp group, imploring the younger players to step up. The eight-time All-Ireland winner felt he'd let the first few years of his own senior county career pass him by. That he'd waited for a spot in the team to open up when he should have been pushing players out. He had current Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng in mind and acknowledged that while he waited for Lyng to retire, Michael Rice and James 'Cha' Fitzpatrick snuck in ahead of him. 'I told them to just jump straight in there and don't be holding back for a year or two or three years thinking you'll get your place then at that time,' revealed Fennelly of his WhatsApp message. Eight years on, Kilkenny are enduring their joint longest ever streak without All-Ireland success and, as far as another household name goes, a truly generational talent to mirror those of the golden era that the Shamrocks man played in, they're still waiting for one to emerge. One of Fennelly's colleagues during the boom times, Jackie Tyrrell, addressed the issue during a chat with Radio Kerry after the 2021 Championship. 'We just haven't had a 'wow' hurler since Richie Hogan came in in 2007/2008 – that's 13 years ago,' said Tyrrell. 'Every year, if you go back, there was a 'Cha' Fitzpatrick, there was a Richie Power, there was a Tommy Walsh, a JJ Delaney, a Henry Shefflin. 'We had all those players coming through in the space of 10, 15 years. We've now gone 13 years and we haven't had this wow hurler come through since TJ Reid and Richie Hogan.' Hogan retired after the 2023 season though Reid is still going. And Kilkenny continue to lean on the 37-year-old for inspiration. TJ Reid. Ken Sutton / INPHO Ken Sutton / INPHO / INPHO That's understandable, of course. He is a generational talent but as one of just three players left in the squad – his brother Richie and goalkeeper Eoin Murphy are the others – with an All-Ireland senior medal from 2015, he is increasingly surrounded by a silver generation of performers. Tyrrell did suggest that Eoin Cody, in time, could be a genuine iconic figure. Joe Canning, a 'wow' player back when Galway were at their peak as All-Ireland champions in 2017, said something similar about Cody ahead of the 2022 All-Ireland final. Going through the players individually for his Irish Times column, Canning pointed to Cody as a player who 'has the potential to be one of the great Kilkenny forwards'. But while Cody went on to collect an All-Star in 2023, a mixture of injuries, patchy personal form and Limerick's excellence has so far prevented him from making that leap to superstardom. Neither Lyng nor his predecessor Brian Cody can be accused of sitting on their hands on the issue. The Allianz League is the home of experimentation and Kilkenny have been busy doling out spring-time debuts. Even in the five-game Covid affected campaign of 2020, Cody used 34 different players in the league, searching in every nook and cranny for the next TJ or DJ. He used 32 players in 2022 while Lyng performed his own trawl after he took over in 2023, handing competitive game time to 37 different players in that season's league with the figure standing at 35 for the 2024 league and 32 this year. The opportunity to experiment in the championship is rare so when Kilkenny and Wexford faced off last Sunday week in a dead rubber Leinster SHC tie, Lyng got creative again. Peter McDonald, Zach Bay Hammond, Padraic Moylan, Killian Doyle, Luke Connellan, Peter Connellan, Billy Drennan and Owen Wall all started their first championship games of 2025. Gearoid Dunne, Niall Shortall and Shane Staunton came on for their first appearances in this year's championship. Advertisement Luke Connellan impressed, pinching two points, but Wexford won and, afterwards, Lyng wasn't enthused by the overall display, lamenting the fact that Kilkenny 'didn't get the result and a better performance'. The search, it appears, goes on. Eoin Cody. Leah Scholes / INPHO Leah Scholes / INPHO / INPHO Adrian Mullen, like Cody, has the potential to be one of Tyrrell's 'wow' players though time is not on his side. His younger brother, Jake, has been ripping it up in the minor championship this year and is definitely one to watch in the longer term with potential marquee status in mind. Mullen the elder played that game against Wexford at centre-back in a novel switch. Fionan Mackessy, the former Kerry star, lined out too, just his third championship start for Kilkenny after making the unlikely inter-county transfer. Kilkenny have rarely done those sort of transfers over the years. Lyng is clearly having to search for something that Cody was gifted with – stellar talents in virtually all lines of the pitch. Kildare's Joe McDonagh Cup final manager Brian Dowling spoke recently about breaking through to one of Cody's senior teams as a teenager. He was gone after a couple of seasons and never got a second chance. Dowling said it left him with a tonne of regrets. Cody had that luxury, to simply turn to his bench and beckon forward the next phenom who, typically, came armed with All-Ireland minor and U-20 medals. Between 2002 and 2014, when Cody was in charge of the seniors, Kilkenny teams won five All-Ireland minor titles and four All-Ireland U-20 titles. Since 2014? Not a single minor win and just one U-20 crown, in 2022. Moylan, Doyle, McDonald, Drennan and Dunne were all on that successful 2022 U-20 team. Doyle is among a talented bunch of young Kilkenny players who won a Croke Cup medal with St Kieran's College. The college won back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024. Moylan won a Fitzgibbon Cup All-Star earlier this year with DCU. Plenty more, like Harry Shine, a St Kieran's graduate who started against Offaly in the championship last month, have come to the senior panel with significant reputations. 'There are players that have come up through the Kilkenny ranks that are very talented, the likes of Harry Shine,' said Walter Walsh, who famously displayed his own prodigious talent with 1-3 for Kilkenny on his debut in 2012 against Galway in an All-Ireland final replay. This year's U-20 team reached the All-Ireland decider, losing out to Tipperary, and, who knows, big full-forward Marty Murphy from that team could yet be the next Walter Walsh. He's from the same club too. Eoghan Lyng from the 20s team is already on the senior panel, coming on against Antrim in the Leinster championship. Most likely though, Kilkenny will go with tried and trusted again for today's Leinster final. Martin Keoghan, at 26 years of age and on the panel since 2018, has been their best player this season. More concerning, the average age of the team that lined out against Dublin in Round 4 – the last time they fielded their strongest team – was 28. 'They still haven't found a player like Tipperary have found in Darragh McCarthy,' said Walsh. Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng. Ken Sutton / INPHO Ken Sutton / INPHO / INPHO Not that Lyng is complaining about any of it. For him, the sum of all his players' individual efforts is adding up to a powerful collective. And waiting for history to repeat itself and for another Henry Shefflin or Tommy Walsh to materialise doesn't keep him up at night. 'We compare all the time to the past teams and we have to stop doing that,' he said after the win over Dublin. 'We have a team here that's competing really well and competing hard. I think there's probably a narrative that we're going to be the team that was there 10, 15 years ago, whatever it was. That's not the case. It's Kilkenny of 2025.'
Irish Examiner
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Kilkenny hang on in thriller with Dubs as Lyng satisfied with Cats' effort
Kilkenny 5-19 Dublin 3-21 The easy thing to do would be to criticise. Derek Lyng wasn't having it though, not after watching his team dig deep to secure a fourth consecutive win in the Leinster SHC and, by extension, their provincial final place. Billy Ryan's 69th-minute goal eventually settled a cracking contest which Kilkenny had led by 14 points at half-time, and by 16 early in the second-half, only to have it whittled down to two late on. Manager Lyng said he's sure there'll be a few who will suggest that the great Kilkenny teams he played on would never have left such a lead slip. And he was keen to respond to them. "We're comparing all the time, to the past teams, and we have to stop doing that," said Lyng. "We have a team here that's competing really well and competing hard. We got the two points. Are we happy that somebody else got back into the game? "We're not at all but at the same time, I think there's probably a narrative that we're going to be the team that was there 10 or 15 years ago, whatever it was. That's not the case. This is Kilkenny of 2025. These lads are working really hard. We have a lot of injuries. We've got lads coming back. "We're balancing all of that and the attitude and the spirit in there is really good." They could hardly claim anyway that a Brian Cody side never coughed up a 16-point lead against Dublin. It happened just five years ago, when Dublin wiped out the very same deficit in a Leinster semi-final at Croke Park on a Halloween night during the pandemic. Kilkenny eventually won by a point that evening to reach the final and they held on for a narrow win this time too which also secured their final place, despite still having to play Wexford in the round robin next Sunday. Another point that Lyng was keen to make after this eight goal barnburner was that we shouldn't be so down on the Leinster championship. "It's there a long time," he said of such criticism. "It was there when I was playing as well. Leinster was always kind of the poor relation (to Munster). Look, I think today certainly showed it (Leinster's quality). Dublin and ourselves had six points coming in and I thought a lot of the hurling was top quality." Dublin manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin argued that Dublin weren't actually that bad in the first-half, despite Kilkenny's 4-12 to 0-10 lead. The goals were killer concessions with Adrian Mullen's, Kilkenny's first in the 16th minute, and Martin Keoghan's, in the 32nd minute, both the products of long deliveries to the danger area that broke kindly. Ryan and TJ Reid also struck first-half goals though those two were more about two in-form players displaying their individual ability as they soloed in from either wing before netting. Ryan finished with 2-3, all from play, and displayed a razor sharp edge whenever a scoring opportunity arose, like when Reid tossed him a pass in the 65th minute and he found space with a neat pirouette before pointing. Reid finished with 1-9, the points all from frees, though before any of Kilkenny's eight different scorers could celebrate their day's work, they had to endure a horror final 20 minutes or so. John Hetherton displayed the value of a big man on the edge of the square when he helped set up Dublin's first goal, finished off by Sean Currie, in the 39th minute. Conor Donohoe came strongly into the game at midfield too, drilling back-to-back points. But it wasn't until their second and third goals, scored in the 53rd and 54th minutes, by Currie again and Cian O'Sullivan, as part of a 2-4 scoring siege by Dublin, that a comeback seemed genuinely possible. AJ Murphy, a star man in Na Fianna's All-Ireland club success under O Ceallachain last winter, came off the bench and scored two points, leaving it 4-19 to 3-20. But just as Dublin dared to dream, Ryan showed that all old ruthless Kilkenny streak with their fifth goal. Dublin can secure a Leinster final rematch with Kilkenny on June 8 if they beat Galway in Round 5 next Sunday at Parnell Park. O Ceallachain said Dublin aren't interested in moral victories and should have beaten Kilkenny this time but he looked to the positive ahead of the Galway game. "As far as I can see, it's more or less a Leinster semi-final that we're playing next weekend," he said. "We've navigated the group to a point where we have a Leinster semi-final next week. That's the way we'll look at it and we'll look forward to that." Kilkenny scorers: TJ Reid 1-9 (0-9 frees); B Ryan 2-3; M Keoghan 1-3; A Mullen 1-0; S Donnelly, K Doyle, J Molloy, L Hogan 0-1 each. Dublin scorers: S Currie 2-6 (1-4 frees, 0-1 65); C O'Sullivan 1-5; C Donohoe 0-4; A Jamieson-Murphy 0-2; D Power, R McBride, C Crummey, F Whitely 0-1 each. Kilkenny: E Murphy; M Butler, H Lawlor, P Deegan; D Blanchfield, R Reid, M Carey; C Kenny, J Molloy; A Mullen, J Donnelly, B Ryan; M Keoghan, TJ Reid, S Donnelly. Subs: K Doyle for Blanchfield (24-25, blood); L Hogan for Mullen (45); Doyle for Kenny (48); F Mackessy for Hogan (59); L Connellan for S Donnelly (71); T Walsh for Blanchfield (72). Dublin: E Gibbons; C McHugh, P Smyth, J Bellew; P Doyle, C Crummey, P Dunleavy; C Burke, C Donohoe; C O'Sullivan, B Hayes, D Power; S Currie, J Hetherton, C Currie. Subs: F Whitely for Dunleavy & R Hayes for C Currie (h/t); R McBride for Burke (49) A Jamieson-Murphy for Power (65). Ref: M Kennedy (Tipperary).
