'It’s hard' - Kilkenny's Huw Lawlor on the challenge of the last four weeks

Kilkenny's standout defender this season, Huw Lawlor has acknowledged it's been difficult for the panel to get 'good blocks of training' in ahead of Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final in Croke Park.

"We were focusing on ourselves after the Leinster final and just concentrating on training and we are now looking forward to facing Tipperary on Sunday afternoon.

"With the way the schedule is now, it’s hard to get in good blocks of training so the break has been good to us in that sense.

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"We are always trying to improve as a team anytime we take to the field so hopefully we continue that way.”

Locally there is a lot of talk about the game but Lawlor and his team-mates are only looking at themselves and how they can get the best out of their side on the big occasion.

"It’s important as a team that we don’t let much outside noise affect us. There’s always a degree of narratives out there around these big games but we just focus on our hurling and listen to the voices within our bubble which is the most important thing for us," he continued.

"The game has changed a lot in the last few years and everyone will bring different approaches and we see a lot of it with teams isolating the balls low into the corner while others go more direct and I think you just need to be ready for everything really."

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