Kilkenny GAA: 'You need the big panels and lads stepping up' - Tommy Walsh looks ahead to Championship 2025

Nine-time All-Ireland winner with Kilkenny, Tommy Walsh believes an influential panel will be necessary for Derek Lyng's team to succeed in the Leinster and All-Ireland Championships.

"You can be unlucky or lucky with injuries. When there was a two or three week break, you could patch lads up and off you go again. The inter-county player is a tough player. Mentally he's tough and physically he's tough and they'll get on with it but now you have four or five games in a row," Walsh told the Kilkenny People Sport Podcast.

"There's no point patching a lad up for this Sunday if he's going to miss the next three Sundays so this is where you need the big panels and lads stepping up but you can get very lucky or very unlucky (with injuries)."

"You'd be hoping that boys are maybe injured at the right time and when you get to the round-robin of Leinster those boys will be ready to go and you'd be hoping 20/21 one of them will be ready to start on a given day," he added.

Hear Tommy Walsh's thoughts in full below on the Kilkenny People Sport Podcast: