KILKENNY HURLING MANAGER Derek Lyng has vowed that they will win All-Ireland titles in the near future, as his side went out of the All-Ireland championship following a seven-point loss to Dublin.
This represents the earliest championship exit for Kilkenny since the new competition structures were drawn up and it brings to an end a sequence of six consecutive Leinster titles.
“Kilkenny are going to win All-Irelands again I have no doubt about that. I think there’s a bit of work to be done there across the board,” said the Emeralds club man.
“A lot of players that got runs this year that will certainly stand to them. They’ll be in a much better place to start the season off next year no question about it.
“There’s a lot of experience and we probably didn’t have a little bit of luck with injuries this year and things like that – and it’s not an excuse.”
Lyng indirectly aired some of the issues that have been highlighted in recent times around Kilkenny hurling. Some of that relates to the teams emerging from the famous hurling nursery, St Kieran’s College, while infrastructure and facilities have become a real issue with underage county teams now travelling to Waterford and Carlow to prepare properly.
A dip in underage performances, highlighted by defeats to Galway in the last week in minor and U20 Leinster finals is another concern.
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“Obviously our minors are still involved, our 20s were knocked out at the turn of the week so it is a disappointing run for Kilkenny,” said Lyng.
“We can’t kind of dress it up, we have to confront reality and the hard work needs to continue at underage and we need to kind of drive that forward.
“But Kilkenny will win All-Irelands again and we’re going to have to just get our heads down and we have to keep working at that.
Cian O'Sullivan and David Blanchfield challenge in the air. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
“We have to take this one on the chin unfortunately, it hasn’t been good enough this year and a lot of work will need to go in and continue over the next few years to make sure we get back to the top.”
Lyng has been overseeing a transition of sorts. Among the new names on this team are Ivan Bolger, Liam Moore and Harry Shine. It was a tough place to come and try to play hurling today and as it happens, all three were taken off.
Lyng admits that he had foreseen some of the issues that dogged them in a campaign when they lost to Dublin and Galway and drew with Offaly.
“It has been very much up and down,” he said.
“The one thing I will say, I probably had an idea it was going to be a tough year if I’m honest.
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“We’ve obviously lost a good bit of experience and we’ve had a few players from the start of the year coming back from injuries as well that we could have done with.
“But we introduced a lot of younger players and I have no doubt that there’s a big future ahead of a lot of those players inside.”
He continued, “But this year it’s a steep learning curve.
“I’ve been saying it for the last few years, when we’re winning Leinsters we’re told that it’s easy. It was never easy, it was never easy.
“We were always performing well and I knew to close that gap again was going to be a challenge. But in fairness to all those players that gave everything again but we were just a little bit short and that’s the reality of it today.”
He added, “It’s what we do now, it’s what the group does now. What we do in terms of our structures and everything else, we have to look at it. Because we haven’t been producing winning teams at an underage level for a while now.
“Look, you’re trying to be part of the solution and it’s never easy. But I have no doubt that there’s a lot of people in Kilkenny who are putting their shoulders to the wheel to make sure that we’re going to come back stronger. And we will come back stronger, I said that.
“We will win All-Irelands again. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be this year.”
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'Kilkenny are going to win All-Irelands again' - Derek Lyng takes it on the chin
KILKENNY HURLING MANAGER Derek Lyng has vowed that they will win All-Ireland titles in the near future, as his side went out of the All-Ireland championship following a seven-point loss to Dublin.
This represents the earliest championship exit for Kilkenny since the new competition structures were drawn up and it brings to an end a sequence of six consecutive Leinster titles.
“Kilkenny are going to win All-Irelands again I have no doubt about that. I think there’s a bit of work to be done there across the board,” said the Emeralds club man.
“A lot of players that got runs this year that will certainly stand to them. They’ll be in a much better place to start the season off next year no question about it.
“There’s a lot of experience and we probably didn’t have a little bit of luck with injuries this year and things like that – and it’s not an excuse.”
Lyng indirectly aired some of the issues that have been highlighted in recent times around Kilkenny hurling. Some of that relates to the teams emerging from the famous hurling nursery, St Kieran’s College, while infrastructure and facilities have become a real issue with underage county teams now travelling to Waterford and Carlow to prepare properly.
A dip in underage performances, highlighted by defeats to Galway in the last week in minor and U20 Leinster finals is another concern.
“Obviously our minors are still involved, our 20s were knocked out at the turn of the week so it is a disappointing run for Kilkenny,” said Lyng.
“We can’t kind of dress it up, we have to confront reality and the hard work needs to continue at underage and we need to kind of drive that forward.
“But Kilkenny will win All-Irelands again and we’re going to have to just get our heads down and we have to keep working at that.
“We have to take this one on the chin unfortunately, it hasn’t been good enough this year and a lot of work will need to go in and continue over the next few years to make sure we get back to the top.”
Lyng has been overseeing a transition of sorts. Among the new names on this team are Ivan Bolger, Liam Moore and Harry Shine. It was a tough place to come and try to play hurling today and as it happens, all three were taken off.
Lyng admits that he had foreseen some of the issues that dogged them in a campaign when they lost to Dublin and Galway and drew with Offaly.
“It has been very much up and down,” he said.
“The one thing I will say, I probably had an idea it was going to be a tough year if I’m honest.
“We’ve obviously lost a good bit of experience and we’ve had a few players from the start of the year coming back from injuries as well that we could have done with.
“But we introduced a lot of younger players and I have no doubt that there’s a big future ahead of a lot of those players inside.”
He continued, “But this year it’s a steep learning curve.
“We were always performing well and I knew to close that gap again was going to be a challenge. But in fairness to all those players that gave everything again but we were just a little bit short and that’s the reality of it today.”
He added, “It’s what we do now, it’s what the group does now. What we do in terms of our structures and everything else, we have to look at it. Because we haven’t been producing winning teams at an underage level for a while now.
“Look, you’re trying to be part of the solution and it’s never easy. But I have no doubt that there’s a lot of people in Kilkenny who are putting their shoulders to the wheel to make sure that we’re going to come back stronger. And we will come back stronger, I said that.
“We will win All-Irelands again. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be this year.”
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