THE TRANSITION LOOKS to be over in Kilkenny.
Their Division 1 league title win was unexpected and it ushered a whole new generation of Cats hurlers into the limelight.
Six players who took the field against Tipperary in the final were part of Eddie Brennan’s U21 side that contested the All-Ireland final the previous year – Conor Delaney, Richie Leahy, Martin Keoghan, John Donnelly, Alan Murphy and Luke Scanlon.
Paddy Deegan, James Maher and Bill Sheehan are other youngsters who’ve emerged in the past year, as Brian Cody attempts to build his next great team.
Some critics have urged caution, noting that Kilkenny targetted the league more than most other teams and had higher fitness levels as a result. But targetting the league was always the Cody way.
“I’ve always said the league is important, the league matters,” Cody said at the Leinster SHC launch.
“I think anybody who gets a good run in the league – it’s always helpful and beneficial to them for the championship.
“There was a time it was almost felt if you go well in the league you won’t go well in the championship. I could never see the sense in that, never bought into that. We have had some successes over the years in the league and it’s always helped us in the championship.”
Cody admits the presence of so many rookies put further emphasis on the importance of a strong spring campaign.
“I suppose, I wasn’t thinking too much about that but it took on an added significance for us because we were facing into a year where we’d be blooding a lot of new players.
“At the start of the league I would have said, ‘Of course, we’d love to win it if at all possible.’ But we wanted to get as much game-time and experience into as many players as possible too.
“And it worked out well from that point of view and we did get to see a lot of players. A lot of players adapted to the game very well and went on to play really well to win the league.”
One player who really acclimatised to the rigours of senior inter-county hurling has been Leahy, who’s thrived in his new role at midfield this season.
Like he did with Richie Hogan in the past, Cody recognised the value in releasing Leahy from corner-forward into open country at centre-field. Not that it matters much to the youngster where he plays, as long as he gets a starting jersey.
“I don’t really care (where I play) once I’m getting the ball,” Rower-Inistioge clubman Leahy said at the Bord Gáis Energy U21 All-Ireland hurling championship launch.
“Anywhere I can get the ball, I’m happy. Once you’re in the game and getting on ball, anywhere is the best position ever. You could be in full-forward and be getting a load of ball. You could be out midfield and be getting no ball, you know that kind of way?
“Everyone fights for their jersey. We’re not thinking too far ahead into the future because you mightn’t even be on the team. Your aim is just to try to get the jersey and hold onto it as long as you can.
“You have to play well because if you don’t then you just know there’s a question mark over your head and you mightn’t make the panel and you mightn’t make the 15.”
Even at this early stage of his career, he has a good idea how to get the best of himself on the field.
Leahy continues: “Hurling is a confidence game. If your touch is off or your striking is poor and the nerves get to you, everything has an affect on you. You just have to go out there and give it your all and just forget about the nerves and everything else around you. Just go out and be in the zone and be in the game.
“You have to enjoy it, that’s what I’ve learned. You can’t just go out and get nervous for a game. I want to go out and enjoy my hurling.
“You just love going out and playing hurling whether it’s for your club or the county U21s or seniors.”
Leahy earned a call-up to the senior panel last summer when he clipped over 0-5 from play at corner-forward for the U21s in the Leinster final win over Wexford.
“That was one of my first full games back (from injury) so I was bulling to get out onto the field,” he says of that performance. “I was fresh out and ready to hurl.
“So I was trying to just go out there and show them what I had. I got lucky in a way, everything broke for me. I got five points, so I was happy enough with that.
“The points were just going over and on another day could have gone wide.”
He made his senior debut off the bench later that month against Waterford in the qualifier defeat, but has now become a starter for the Cats at midfield. Picking up silverware in his first proper this season with Kilkenny was a proud moment.
“It was lovely,” Leahy explains. “It was surreal, now, after that game, just seeing the crowd out on the pitch and everyone slapping you on the back and saying, ‘Well done’ and shaking your hand. It was unbelievable, like.
“I didn’t really soak it in until afterwards. When you’re literally watching it on TV the next day you’re just like, ‘Jesus’. The crowd that was at it was unbelievable. I hadn’t even noticed the crowd beforehand.”
Leahy only turned 21 last month but had the mentality to deal with the pressure that came with stepping into the senior dressing room for the first time.
“It’s crazy. Realistically you don’t even think about what you’re doing, you’re just doing it. So you still don’t really know what you’re actually achieving until you’re done hurling.
“At the moment I’m just happy to be there. I’m not even thinking about what I’m actually doing. I’m just hurling.
“You just have to try to and impress him (Cody), that’s the main aim. You just have to try to play good. I haven’t really thought about, ‘Oh, it’s Brian Cody’, I’m just trying to play good myself and focus on my game.”
That mindset will be severely tested over the coming weeks, and Leahy’s manager admits they’ve approached the championship differently this time around.
“The reality is that before you would prepare for the first match and train for the first match and you’d play the first match and then you’d go away and train for the next match,” says Cody.
“Now we don’t do that because we can’t. You train for the four matches now and you play the first match and then you recover and you play the next match, hopefully and you recover again.
“So you don’t train in between matches now in the Leinster championship this year because you can’t, there isn’t time.
“The recovery period after the first game is going to take three or four days and it’s a question of getting out for a few pucks so there’ll be no physical contact or anything like that.”
It’s a challenge Leahy is relishing.
“It’s going to be a tough four games, a lot of hits as well.”
