'There's a big gap to make up' - Lyng brutally honest as Kilkenny heavily beaten

Kilkenny senior hurling manager Derek Lyng simply described the county's loss to Galway in the Allianz Hurling League as 'unacceptable' with supporters left reeling from the 18 point defeat in Salt Hill.

Apart from being level twice inside the opening five minutes, Derek Lyng's men were left chasing shadows throughout in what was their largest defeat since their 19 point Leinster semi-final loss to Wexford in 1954.

Lyng confirmed after the match that a sickness was running through the panel, but he offered no excuses for the manner of their performance.

"Look, it’s the same for everybody, you know. We've had that before, and it's certainly not an excuse to be leaning on (On playing three weeks on the trot).

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"I'll say for the players, the last few weeks, obviously a lot of lads have been out sick and things like that, but everybody that took to the field today was fit”, the manager added.

The Leinster champions never threatened, which will be deeply worrying, as their opponents controlled matters from almost the first minute.

"We were second to everything; they won every breaking ball. We didn't win enough 50-50s at all there, from start to finish.

"At no stage did we look like we were really getting back into it. That's something obviously now we have to look at," he continued.

"There's a big gap to make up there. It’s a quiet dressing room there; everybody's very disappointed. There’s nothing we can do only work through it now.

"They (Galway) were very good, they were fresh, they were hungrier. That's the most important thing. Hunger is everything in sport and they won every breaking ball. So that's within our control and we'll be very disappointed with that."

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