All to play for as Kilkenny face arch rivals in UPMC Nowlan Park

It’s down to the business end of the Allianz Hurling League and Kilkenny’s fate will be decided on home soil as they face and Tipperary and Limerick over successive weekends.

Last Saturday’s defeat to Cork means the Cats currently sit on four points with two wins and two defeats thus far, and everything is still on the line for them with a league final spot and possible relegation not out of the question.

Derek Lyng’s team have had a bad run of it injury wise over the last few weeks with the likes of Stephen Donnelly, Huw Lawlor and Cian Kenny all going off with knocks at the weekend to add to previous setbacks to Fionan Mackessy and Zach Bay Hammond.

O’Loughlin Gaels star Mackessy made his return to the field on Saturday while there was a welcome first appearance of the season for TJ Reid who came on for the final 10 minutes.

“TJ has been training away so it’s good to get minutes into him and it was important for him to get on the field so we’ll just see for next week now”, Lyng said after the loss to Cork.

The likes of team captain John Donnelly and Adrian Mullen remain absent, but the manager did add that Donnelly could well be available for Sunday afternoon’s clash with Tipperary after getting over his injury.

The news was less positive on Adrian Mullen, however, with the championship looking like his most likely return date.

“We could potentially have John Donnelly back with us next weekend but we definitley won’t see Adrian Mullen,” Lyng said.

“The Limerick game could be too soon for him too as he might need three or four weeks to recover.”

Kilkenny are badly in need of league points to bat away any lingering threat of being dragged into a relegation battle but with their near neighbours flying high at the top of the table, the Cats will need to be at their best to secure victory.

“It’s a big game on Sunday as Tipperary are moving really well and obviously they beat Cork last week so it’ll be a huge game for us in Nowlan Park.

“There’s still a lot to play for in the league and even though we lost, there was still a lot of positives there for us aswell and it wasn’t all negative.

“With better execution, we could have been a lot closer on the scoreboard and Cork deserved the win in the end,” the manager added.

As a result of the Limerick cancellation, the Leinster champions will finish off their Division 1A campaign with two games in the Marble City and while the schedule is a tough one on paper, it does give Derek Lyng’s team another week of action with their opening Leinster Championship clash against Galway not commencing till Easter Saturday and while cementing league status and staying in contention for the league final are important, ultimately black and amber eyes are always fixed on the defence of their provincial crown.

“The schedule is tough going and the way it has turned out, we had two weekends off but we’ve obviously got a good bit of work in and it’s all being planned around the championship and being ready for that but yeah we will just have to pick it up for next week.

“It was great to come to Pairc Ui Chaoimh and play in a brilliant stadium in front of a huge crowd and you’d always look forward to the games but we are looking forward to getting back into Nowlan Park next week,” Lyng finished.

Another big crowd is expected on Sunday and the TG4 cameras will also be in town as the arch rivals commence battle at 1.15pm

Catch a full preview on the Kilkenny People Sport Podcast below: