Kilkenny U19 manager keen to instil winning feeling in Cats as they prepare for league final

Kilkenny U19 hurling manager, Mark Aylward is eager to instil a winning feeling in his panel as the Cats gear up to take on Dublin in the U19 Development League Final on Thursday at 6.30pm in UPMC Nowlan Park. 

Aylward's side are unbeaten in the competition so far with wins over Dublin, Wexford and Offaly and can secure the league title in its inaugural year with a home win on Thursday evening.

"At the end of the day it’s a competition, tomorrow (Thursday) is a final and the boys are wearing a Kilkenny jersey and it’s important they try and win and get success in a Kilkenny jersey," Aylward said.

"Last night we were talking to them and not too many of them said they had success in a Kilkenny jersey with regards winning anything so even though it’s a development league it gets us used to winning and that winning feeling is a big thing and hopefully we can do the job tomorrow (Thursday)," he added.

The Cats defeated Dublin by eight points in Belfield when the teams met earlier in the campaign but the Kilkenny manager expects an even tougher test when the Dubs come to UPMC Nowlan Park.

"I've looked at Dublin a couple of times, they are after improving a lot since we played them, they put up two big scores against Wexford and Offaly," stated Aylward.

"Any underage competitive game is never going to be easy but look, we'll focus on ourselves tomorrow night (Thursday) and put a game plan in place and get our heads right. It is in Nowlan Park which is an advantage and that was the whole idea of coming top of the group which was the whole idea of coming top of the group and look at the end of the day when we go out on the field we want to win and get the chaps used to that winning feeling and there’s no better place to win something than Nowlan Park," he commented.

News of the competition's launch was well received when it was announced earlier this year and Aylward believes it's presence will be effective in keeping players involved in Kilkenny hurling.

"It's trying to bridge that gap between 17 and 20 and making sure lads are not out of the system completely and that lads are in an academy where they’re being coached and developed together and they’re getting the different aspects of nutrition and psychology drilled into them so it's very beneficial," claimed Aylward.

"The whole idea is to step it up for the U20s either this year or next year and then hopefully get a few Kilkenny seniors but we set out our targets at the start of the year that we try and improve the sharpness of hurling, to work on different game scenarios, changing up different things they might be doing with their clubs and just trying to sharpen up the coaching a little bit from what we’re not usually doing in Kilkenny and look we only see the lads once or twice a week but they’ve bought into it big time and any time we have them together they really try and work on their skills and any parts of their game they can improve on," he added.

Kilkenny GAA took steps to improve its underage structure earlier this year, launching Na Cait Óga with former senior hurler Michael Fennelly taking up the role as Performance Lead, a move the U19 boss has welcomed.

"Michael and all his team are definitely working hard with the underage system and these academies will be a good for Kilkenny in the long run, like we know we haven’t been as competitive in the underage in the past 15/20 years, the development squads was the original route but now he’s trying to improve that system, getting more coaches in along with seminars and showing the professionalism of being in a inter-county set up and giving lads the best possible chance to try and pick out the hurlers and bring them along together," Aylward concluded. 

Kilkenny against Dublin throws in at 6.30pm on Thursday evening in UPMC Nowlan Park. Entry is free and via the triangle carpark, beside the admin building.