Derek Lyng and Keith Rossiter react to opening league draw between Kilkenny and Wexford

The competitive nature of last Sunday’s Allianz League clash with Wexford may be a sign of things to come for Kilkenny in the next few weeks.

They look to be in the tougher of the Division one groups so losing a precious lead in stoppage time will certainly have irked Derek Lyng a little.

“Overall it was maybe a fair result but we’re still disappointed that we didn’t get the win,” he said.

“It was competitive and we had a free there at the end to get over the line but in fairness to Billy (Drennan) he took the two penalties very well. I’m just a bit frustrated at coughing up some of the scores that we did - you’re conscious it’s still early days and really we’d hope that aspect of it improves.”

The Kilkenny boss acknowledged that his side didn’t make best use of the wind at their backs in the first 35 minutes.

“I thought our play was much better in the second half and we overthought things in the first period with the wind and we didn’t use it too well to be honest,” he added.

“We need to be getting ball in faster to the forwards and when you have the wind you need to use it like that.

“We had scoring opportunities that we didn’t take as well and these are things that we’d hope to improve on.

“I’d still have to applaud the players effort in the second half as they went three points up and we fought our way back into it and led at different stages.

“We’re a little disappointed not to win it in the end all the same.”

The two Wexford goals were soft from a Kilkenny point of view but Lyng was still happy with the players’ application.

“The first goal is not one that we like to concede but I think we dusted ourselves down well and got back into it and showed a lot of character as all the momentum was with Wexford at that time and I thought we fought back well.

“We then should have closed the game out before their second goal and that’s what we need to be doing but to be fair to them they were asking questions of us too and credit goes to them,” he added.

What about the league debutants?

“It was a big day for Jordan Molloy and all the debutants and they did well.

“They’ll hopefully sharpen up in the next few weeks as well,” Lyng continued.

The manager also touched on the likes of John Donnelly, Walter Walsh, Mikey Butler, Huw Lawlor and Paddy Deegan and when they may return and if they are in the running for the Cork game on Saturday night.

“We’re trying to be mindful of the year the lads have all had as they’ve done a lot of hurling over the last 12 months so we’ll just see how that goes during the week.”

While Lyng may have been frustrated, there was more of a positive vibe from Wexford manager Keith Rossiter who has made a very positive start to his term in charge.

“I suppose looking at it after the last penalty went in, it was a point gained to be honest with you.

“Coming down the stretch and losing by three to Kilkenny is always tough so when that ball hit the net late on I was very happy.

“I thought the last free was a little bit questionable too and we maybe could have got a bit of a play after that but in fairness to Billy Drennan he did us a favour,” Rossiter said with a wry smile.

“Anytime we come up to Kilkenny and get a point it’s massive and even more so with the calibre of the forwards they had on the field but I’m delighted with the job our backs done.”