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Irish Times
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Derek Lyng praises Kilkenny's hard work as they shrug aside Galway for six-in-a-row
Far from perfect, or the finished article for that matter, but a win is a win. Particularly in a Croke Park final. That was the gist of Derek Lyng's assessment of Kilkenny's sixth consecutive Leinster final success. The Cats never really cut loose, nor were they required to, whilst shrugging Galway aside for the second time in this season's campaign. Not even when Galway got it back to a four-point game on a couple of occasions late on did Kilkenny supporters really fear relinquishing their hold on the Bob O'Keeffe Cup. Onwards then to an All-Ireland semi-final in four weeks, but is it fair to suggest that Kilkenny haven't truly been road-tested yet? READ MORE 'I think we have been,' contested manager Lyng. 'From the start of the Leinster campaign, all we've been spoken about as is being favourites. 'We've had to put a huge amount of work into each game, and we prepare for each game like any other. It doesn't matter who you're playing. 'I think it's probably taken for granted that we're going to go out and win these games, but a huge amount of work goes into it, particularly from the players. They do it all, and we've been working very hard at that. I feel we've been tested in different games, at different stages. We lost to Wexford, and against Dublin we would have been disappointed with a spell in that game as well, as we were today. 'Look, regardless of who we're playing, we know we're going to have to find another gear or two for the next day and that's the reality of it. That's something we'll go after, and we're looking forward to that, but we took this campaign very seriously and we got our reward today. 'We're Leinster champions and that was the objective. At the same time, yeah, we know we've a lot of work to do.' Galway manager Micheál Donoghue dejected after the game. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho Lyng borrowed from his predecessor Brian Cody's sporting vocabulary when describing the performance as 'decent'. 'It was about getting the result, the performance overall was decent, I thought,' he said. 'We know there's a lot of room for improvement. We go into a knock-out phase now. Everything ramps up. We have a few great weeks that we're going to have to really utilise and work very hard in, and just get our heads down to be ready for the next step.' Kilkenny's highlights reel contained plenty of moments of defensive excellence, with Huw Lawlor's soaring fetches at the back most impressive. If they are to go on and end their decade-long wait for an All-Ireland win, Lawlor's miserliness at the back is going to be required. 'It's a brilliant skill to have,' said Lyng of his full back's aerial ability. 'Somebody that can attack the ball and just pluck it from the sky like that. He was excellent and it gives a lift to everybody around him as well, that confidence that you have in a full back. 'I thought, overall, the effort, not just from Huw, but from everybody that was involved, was excellent. I thought our work-rate was very good and maybe it dipped a little bit at times but I thought a bit of resilience to take back the game under our control near the end was very positive as well.' Former All Star forward Eoin Cody missed out again and hasn't featured since the Cats beat Antrim. Lyng had positive news on that front. 'We just didn't take a chance on him,' he said. 'If he had had a setback, that would have been his year over. Eoin is actually looking very strong so hopefully the next couple of weeks will bring him on an awful lot. Hopefully we will have him the next day.' [ Leinster SHC final: Unflappable Kilkenny can contain the Galway bounce-back Opens in new window ] Galway are still alive in the Liam MacCarthy Cup race and will face a preliminary quarter-final winner in a little under a fortnight. Manager Micheál Donoghue took crumbs of comfort from the fact that when they landed some belated blows on Kilkenny in the final 10 minutes or so, they drew blood. 'In the build-up, people were saying, 'We're back, we're back' and that we have big opportunities,' said Donoghue of the pre-final talk locally. 'Look, we have huge belief and trust in the group. The disappointing thing is when you see what they did for a 10-, 12-minute period in the game ... look, that's the positives we're taking out of it and that's what we'll try and build on as we move forward.' Is Project Galway, mark II, ultimately a bigger job than Donoghue had anticipated? 'No, I wouldn't say a bigger job,' responded the 2017 All-Ireland winning manager. 'Obviously there's the disappointment of today and I suppose the narrative will be that it's probably similar to previous years and previous teams. But we know what we have in the squad and we'll try and take the positives out of it and move forward.'
Irish Times
06-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Can Cork and Galway pass their repeat exams?
Cork, writes Joe Canning, have had just three weeks to figure out what went wrong at the Gaelic Grounds when they were close enough to being pulverised by Limerick. It's like 'they're sitting a repeat exam,' he says of Saturday's Munster fina l against the same opposition. This, Joe reckons, 'could be more like the game we thought we were going to get' last time out. Galway will be sitting a repeat exam too in Sunday's Leinster final, having been 'destroyed' by Kilkenny seven weeks ago . Can they pass the test this time? Cathal Mannion certainly hopes so, Ian O'Riordan talking to the Galway forward ahead of the game. Also in Gaelic games, Muireann Duffy has word on research in to camogie and women's football that found that players have the habit of suffering in silence when they sustain injuries for fear of 'being dropped, letting their team down or being seen as weak'. In football, Gavin Cummiskey previews this evening's friendly between the Republic of Ireland and a formidable looking Senegal side in Dublin, and he hears from Robbie Brady, the newly crowned senior international player of the year . Brady's message to his team-mates on hearing he'd won the gong? 'It shows how s**t you've all been if I'm winning this'. READ MORE In rugby, Gerry Thornley previews Leinster's URC semi-final against defending champions Glasgow at the Aviva Stadium tomorrow, and in his column, Johnny Watterson reflects on 'crampgate' , ie Jaden Hendrikse's carry-on during the Sharks' URC shoot-out against Munster last weekend. Did URC chief executive Martin Anayi condemn the behaviour? Heck no, he was so chuffed by the YouTube, X and Instagram hits, he 'freely skated over Hendrikse's antics'. In golf, Philip Reid reports on an excellent day at the office for Shane Lowry at the Canadian Open, where a 64 has him just three shots off the lead, but a not so good one for Rory McIlroy, his 71 leaving him well adrift. And in racing, Brian O'Connor previews the action at Epsom, the two-day meeting getting under way today. Aidan O'Brien has three runners in the Oaks , which he has won on 10 occasions, but Godolphin's unbeaten 1,000 Guineas winner Desert Flower is the favourite. And Brian also looks ahead to tomorrow's Derby which, he says, 'is trading on past glories' . It's 'the original, but sad to say it's not the best any more', the most commercially relevant of them all now the Japanese Derby. TV Watch : Virgin Media One and UTV have coverage from Epsom today (from 1pm) and in tennis, it's men's semi-final day at the French Open. The match between Lorenzo Musetti and Carlos Alcaraz is scheduled to start at 1.30, followed by the meeting of world number one Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic (TNT Sports 1). This evening, the Republic of Ireland meet Senegal in a friendly at the Aviva Stadium (RTE 2, 7.45) and at 8.0 Virgin Media Three has coverage of the Diamond League in Rome (8.0).
Irish Times
29-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Joe Canning: Galway are growing in confidence and if they beat Kilkenny, the crowds will follow
You have to compliment the Leinster Council and Croke Park for giving away 20,000 tickets for underage teams to attend the hurling final on Sunday week. It's a great initiative, and I know a few Galway clubs are already planning on sending up busloads of kids, which can only add to the occasion. It's also a nice boost to the Joe McDonagh final between Kildare and Laois, the Croke Park curtain-raiser, already a big day out for both those teams. I think under-16s should nearly always be free anyway, so it doesn't surprise me those 20,000 tickets are being snapped up fast. At the same time, it's probably not a great sign for a Leinster hurling final between Galway and Kilkenny when you're giving away this many tickets to help fill the stadium. Croke Park was never going to be near its 82,300-capacity, which is why I think they might have been better off moving the game elsewhere, to Tullamore or Portlaoise maybe. Pack the place out, make it something unforgettable. Everybody wants to play in Croke Park, I get that. For me as a player there was nowhere better. But in terms of playing atmosphere, and spectacle, this game might have been better served by a place like Tullamore, halfway between Galway and Kilkenny. I don't think the supporters would have any issue. READ MORE With gentle irony, if they moved the Munster final between Limerick and Cork to Croke Park, they probably would sell the place out. Only you can imagine what the Munster hurling diehards would say about that. As it turns out, they've increased ticket prices for the Munster final at the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday week, the €50 stand tickets up €5 on last year. Croke Park can also be an expensive day out, but I'd be hopeful the Galway supporters are starting to get behind their team again. Same with any county, you need some success for that to happen. Limerick have that in spades now, and the Tipperary supporters are also getting behind their team. I think back to last year, when they played Cork in Semple Stadium, and the Tipp supporters were shockingly outnumbered. At home! The crowds will always follow the success, no matter what the sport. Look at Munster rugby. A few years ago, it was impossible to get a ticket for any match in Thomond Park, and now you could nearly rock up on the day and get in. Galway manager Micheál Donoghue. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho For Galway, beating Dublin in Parnell Park last Sunday was a big result on several levels. They'd never beaten them in any championship match in Dublin before. Micheál Donoghue would have been fully aware of that, and I'm glad for the lads to get that monkey off their back. Parnell Park is also tough place for any team to visit. I used to hate going there. The Dublin crowd are in on top of you, and if you're struggling at all that's not pleasant. It's a big enough field, but the wall around makes it feel a lot smaller. Croke Park always feels way bigger than any other pitch, when in fact they're nearly all the same size. Galway ended up topping the group, on scoring difference, and there's no disputing Galway and Kilkenny have been the two best teams in Leinster. Same with Limerick and Cork in Munster. Maybe part of the hard sell on Croke Park is that some people are saying the hurling championship hasn't ignited yet this summer, in Leinster or in Munster. Some of the Munster games didn't live up to the hype, or go right down to the wire. And maybe it wasn't as good as last year. I don't think anyone expected Clare to be out before the last round, but I also think the perception and the reality can quickly change from one game to the next. When Galway lost to Kilkenny in the first round, some people were saying Galway won't go far this year. Now they're back in a Leinster final, and people are giving them a good chance of beating Kilkenny. Before Cork lost heavily to Limerick last Sunday week, they were favourites to win the All-Ireland. Now Limerick are favourites to win the All-Ireland. For three years we played Tipp in All-Ireland semi-finals, and there was one point between us. In 2015 we won by a point, in 2016 we lost by a point, and in 2017 we won by a point. These are the fine margins between winning and losing, when in reality there was nothing between us. Some teams might have put a little more emphasis on the league this year, trying to avoid a drop to Division 1B. Cork were begging for silverware with this team, probably targeted the league, and maybe you're just not seeing the same freshness right now. But fortunes change every year. Kilkenny's Fionan Mackessy shoots at goal. Photograph: Ken Sutton/Inpho Now you do have Kilkenny going for six-in-a-row in Leinster, and Limerick going for seven in Munster. You could question that scenario, where one team dominates, but I don't think anyone could say the Munster and Leinster championships haven't been competitive the last number of years. Two years ago, Galway had the Leinster final won until the last puck of the game, when Cillian Buckley's goal for Kilkenny changed everything. It also changed a lot of people's perspective on Henry Shefflin's term with Galway. If they'd won that, Galway would have made an All-Ireland semi-final, and Kilkenny beat Clare in that semi-final. So potentially Galway could have made an All-Ireland final that year, and people would be saying Shefflin had a great time with Galway. Galway are building confidence again, and if you look back at the opening 20 minutes against Kilkenny the first day, they weren't that bad. They started well, then just fell off for some reason, maybe the forwards stopped working as hard. That has changed the last couple of games. They've switched around some personnel. Daithí Burke coming back is a big plus, Pádraic Mannion moving to corner back, David Burke around midfield, structurally that has suited them better. Conor Whelan is also coming out the field more, then you add in Cathal Mannion, who is in brilliant form, nailing his frees when he has to. Overall, they're just working a lot harder. That's all you can ask for. When you look at this Kilkenny team, pound-for-pound they're still as good as any team out there. Galway will have their hands full, no doubt about it, but if you're a Galway supporter, you'd be hopeful. But for any team to beat Kilkenny, you absolutely have to earn it. No matter where the game is played.
Irish Times
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Deadly and dithery Cork make Munster final
For Nicky English, the last weekend of hurling's provincial round robins proved to be a bit on the underwhelming side , not helped by two of the games being dead rubbers. He was, though, impressed by Galway, but he still has his doubts about Cork. Did their performance against Waterford 'answer the file of queries raised by the disintegration in Limerick? No, absolutely not'. Cork were, writes Denis Walsh, 'slick and sloppy and deadly and dithery' , in keeping with 'their bipolar performances in the championship' thus far, but job done, they're through to the Munster final where they'll get another crack at Limerick. They'll need to work on their accuracy, though. ' The scores we missed were brutal, for want of a better word ,' as their manager Pat Ryan put it after the game. An understrength Limerick lost to Clare, but it was too little too late for the All-Ireland champions , they were already out, but Galway booked their slot in the Leinster final , Seán Moran at Parnell Park to see them pick up their first away win against Dublin in the championship. Up next for Galway is Kilkenny who lost to Wexford in one of those dead rubbers , while Offaly retained their Leinster SHC status with a jittery win over Antrim. In football, Monaghan brought newly crowned Leinster champions Louth crashing back down to earth in Newbridge, while Donegal had their bubble burst by Tyrone in Ballybofey. Armagh eased some of the pain of their Ulster final defeat by getting the better of Derry, while Meath bounced back too from their Leinster final loss by beating Cork in Navan. And on the women's side, Galway and Kerry retained their provincial titles with victories over Mayo and Waterford, respectively. READ MORE In soccer, Ken Early reflects on the Premier League campaign just ended . So much for it being 'the season of the underdog' – 'in the end the top five had a reassuringly familiar composition: two American-owned sports-groups, two clubs owned by Gulf states, and whatever the hell Chelsea are.' We also look back on how the Irish fared on 'a weekend marked by joy for some and heartbreak for others', no one experiencing more joy than Katie McCabe after Arsenal's Champions League triumph over Barcelona . In rugby, Gerry Thornley reports on Bordeaux Bègles' Champions Cup triumph over Northampton Saints, hearing from their assistant coach Noel McNamara after the game, his CV looking 'increasingly impressive'. Declan Kelly has a heck of a CV too: 'From Tipp to Salford via Wall Street.' Denis Walsh traces his remarkable career, the latest chapter his involvement in Salford City , the League Two side that was famously owned by Manchester United's Class of '92. TV Watch : Tennis fans will be in heaven, it's French Open time, TNT Sports bringing an entire 13 hours of coverage from Roland Garros today (from 10am). In the afternoon, TG4 has horse racing from Ballinrobe (4.15pm) and later, they have highlights from the GAA weekend (8pm).
The Irish Sun
25-05-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Lee Chin stars as Wexford stun Kilkenny to end Leinster SHC campaign on a high
LEE CHIN'S 1-13 masterclass saw Wexford end their Leinster Championship campaign on a high with a seven-point win over Kilkenny at Chadwicks Wexford Park. Wexford gave their supporters something to cheer about after a difficult provincial run, while Kilkenny - already through to the final - made wholesale changes ahead of their showdown with Galway in two weeks. Advertisement 2 Lee Chin starred with 1-13 for Wexford in the win over Kilkenny on Sunday afternoon 2 Kilkenny made wholesale changes for the clash ahead of their match against Galway in two weeks As a result, the Cats never led in the game and manager Derek Lyng admitted the display left him a little disappointed. He said: 'We gave a lot of lads a chance, but at the same time we were absolutely coming here to put in a performance and get the win, so we're disappointed with that. "But the focus now switches to a Leinster Final and we've a big two weeks ahead.' He added: 'Wexford had a gale-force wind behind them in the first half, so they gained a bit of momentum. Advertisement READ MORE ON GAA "But I actually thought we played quite well in the first half - we missed a couple of chances that would have brought us closer, and that would have been important going in at half-time.' He continued: 'The goal at the start of the second half then opened up the gap a bit more. To their credit, our lads kept going, but it was too late to make a difference at that stage.' Wexford were full value for their 0-12 to 0-5 half-time lead, with Chin leading the charge. Rory O'Connor's goal four minutes after the restart put further daylight between the sides. Advertisement Most read in GAA Hurling Comment Kilkenny, with TJ Reid and Cian Kenny battling hard, did try to claw back the margin — but any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Chin struck for goal ten minutes from time. Reid did find the net for Kilkenny in stoppage time, having earlier seen close-range frees blocked on the line, but the damage had already been done. RTE pundit Joe Canning urges GAA to make huge change for Leinster hurling final as fans 'totally agree' Wexford finished with seven points to spare in a well-deserved win. WEXFORD: Advertisement M Fanning; C Molloy, S Donohoe (0-1), C Foley; E Ryan, D Reck, D Carley; C Hearne (0-1), C Byrne Dunbar; J O'Connor (0-1), L Chin (1-13, 9f), R O'Connor (1-1); K Foley, M Dwyer (0-1), C Byrne. Subs: N Murphy for Reck (30), C Dunbar for Dwyer (50), C McDonald (0-1) for Byrne (55), D Codd for J O'Connor (67), C McGuckin for Molloy (69). KILKENNY: E Murphy; P Connellan, P Moylan, T Walsh; D Blanchfield, A Mullen (0-1), Z Bay Hammond; K Doyle (0-1), P McDonald; L Connellan (0-2), C Kenny (0-3), F Mackessy (0-1); B Drennan (0-1), TJ Reid (1-4, 2f, 2 65s), O Wall. Advertisement Subs: S Donnelly (0-1) for McDonald (44), G Dunne for Wall (49), R Reid (0-1) for Bay Hammond (59), N Shortall for Drennan (66), S Staunton for Mullen (68). Referee: Seán Stack (Dublin)
