Kilkenny SHC: Shamrocks annual poor league form not 'by design'

Shamrocks Ballyhale manager Pat Hoban before the Kilkenny County Senior Hurling Championship Final against James Stephens. : Picture: Piaras O’Midheach/Sportsfile

placeholder image — Shamrocks Ballyhale manager Pat Hoban before the Kilkenny County Senior Hurling Championship Final against James Stephens. : Picture: Piaras O’Midheach/Sportsfile

Hoban has been speaking to the Kilkenny People Sport Podcast

Former Shamrocks Ballyhale manager Pat Hoban claims the Shamrocks' annual poor league campaigns are not by design despite their fortunes turning drastically come championship in recent years.

Speaking about his own time as boss, the Mullinavat clubman said: "It wasn't by design, there was genuine injuries and nobody likes losing and you particularly don't want to be in the bottom two because on any given day if it goes wrong you're in trouble," he said.

"It is a bit of shock when you go to Ballyhale and you realise you're going to lose a couple of games and you still have a chance of winning something but the lads (the current management team) would be screwed into the psyche of it," Hoban added.

Hear Pat Hoban's full preview of the weekend's Kilkenny hurling action and more on the latest episode of the Kilkenny People Sport Podcast below: