Pressure mounts as Kilkenny hurlers head into unchartered territory

The eyes of the hurling world will fixed on Nowlan Park tomorrow night as Kilkenny and Wexford collide in a crucial Leinster Championship game.

With the other two Leinster games and the two huge Munster clashes involving Cork v Limerick and Waterford v Tipperary all on Sunday, proceedings in the Marble City will take centre stage.

One week on from their heaviest Leinster Championship defeat since 1990 at the hands of Galway, Derek Lyng's Kilkenny side are very much under the pump as they look to get their championship up and running.

The Urlingford man described the weekend as a knockout clash for themselves and while things may not be that extreme just yet, anything other than a win will leave Kilkenny with huge questions to answer ahead of a two week break.

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Things probably aren't as bad as they looked by the Atlantic Ocean last weekend but there's no doubting the the side shorn of the likes of Billy Ryan and Huw Lawlor have drifted back into the provincial pack somewhat.

Suspension to John Donnelly and the continuing injury absence of Adrian Mullen certainly doesn't help things but with the likes of Mikey Butler, Cian Kenny and Mossy Keoghan struggling to find form, the defending Leinster champions are certainly looking more vulnerable that at any other stage in the Leinster championship.

So much so that the team chasing a seventh Leinster crown on the trot are looking to bouce back from a first ever opening round loss in the round-robin and Wexford will be rearing for a crack at their near neighbours come 6.30pm on Saturday.

Kilkenny's problems go a little deeper than a few injuries and players out of form with the lack of underage success beginning to come to the boil now.

Liam Moore, Rory Garrett and Ivan Bolger are three players to break through this season with Moore in particular making his mark in the jersey but such is expectation on Noreside, there is a lot of young players that haven't made the grade.

Of the team that won the All-Ireland Under-20 title in 2022, it's just Aidan Tallis that started last Saturday's game in Salthill and while there were final appearances at both underage grades in the last two years, it's hard to get away from the talk of transition.

Kilkenny usually back up a disappointing outing with a big display and you'd expect nothing less with Wexford coming to town and even more so given the Slaneysiders fine recent record against the Noresiders.

Keith Rossiter's men got their championship up and running with a win away to Kildare in Newbridge and they themselves are without Rory O'Connor who is off on his travels but with his brother Jack captaining the side they look to have all the momentum coming into the game.

Anything but a win will have Kilkenny in grave danger of not making the top three and that alone should spring them to life and with TJ Reid and Eoin Cody leading the line, they may just have enough to scrape over the line.