'We’ve a good bit of work to do before League’: Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng

Wexford’s Indian sign over Kilkenny in recent meetings continued last weekend in what will be the first of three games between the counties this season with all of them taking place in the Marble City.

The Walsh Cup semi-final will be the least important of their battles in 2024 and Derek Lyng acknowledged that Wexford were the better side on an day where the underfoot terrain made things difficult.

“Conditions were tough for both teams and Wexford got to the pitch of it much quicker than us for the majority of the game,” he said.

“The weather conditions were the same for both teams and you just have to get on with it but we have to be able to adapt to the weather that is there.

“They were quicker to the ball and sharper than us and we definitely have a bit of work to do.”

It took a while for the Cats to get going but that’ll come with time according to the manager.

“We made a lot of handling errors and we dropped the ball at times and over-elaborated and we didn’t get the ball in quick enough at times so there are a lot of things that we need to work on.

“I can’t be too critical of the way we are using the ball either as we’ve only been back hurling since the start of January and the tough conditions just highlighted that we do have a bit of work to do.”

Lyng has a lot to deal with at this time of the year from injuries to college action but he’ll be seeking improvement with the Allianz League coming up the weekend after next.

“There was lads ruled out the night before the game and lads also picked up knocks in the Fitzgibbon Cup which you only find out at the last minute but it’s still no excuse as lads are trying to do the right thing and I think in the next few weeks you will see an improvement.

“Wexford were certainly more fluid in how they set up and they knew what they were doing so they’ll be a huge test for ourselves on Sunday week.

“We do have very good hurlers in our squad and sometimes a bit of nervousness is there as lads get an opportunity and they are trying to do the right thing and sometimes they can overthink it.

“I’m not going to overly critical of anyone today, it’s just the fact that we have to get back on the field and work on things and they’ll be fine.

“We’ll have to ease some of our players back into it and we’ve been giving an opportunity to lads and trying to balance all that out with some lads coming back later as we have a lot of niggles there at the moment and we’re just trying to tidy them up as well so hopefully we’ll have a few more players back in the next while.”

Wexford will return to Kilkenny for the first Division One League game on Sunday week where much changed sides are expected.

“This is the hand that we have been dealt now and now we just have to make that count next weeks as we’ve a couple of weeks where we’ll just have to manage the Fitzgibbon Cup and a couple of other bits and pieces,” Lyng added.

“The league is the big challenge ahead of us now and we’ve a good bit of work to do in the time before the first game but we’re looking forward to it getting going as well.”

Another point of note was Peter McDonald starting and Zach Bay Hammond, Luke Connellan and Stephen Donnelly coming on a week on from their All-Ireland win with Thomastown.

“The lads equipped themselves very well to be fair to them and they were well entitled to have a couple of good days after a great win last week and they’ve come into us flying so it’s great to see them involved.”