Steady hand Lawlor still looking to help Kilkenny cause from the back

Such is the rarity of recent meetings between Kilkenny and Tipperary in the championship that Huw Lawlor will only be appearing against them for the second time in his career when he lines out at full-back on Sunday.

The O’Loughlin Gaels man had his hands full when coming face to face with Seamus Callanan during that 2019 All-Ireland final.

That game was a steep learning curve for the 29-year-old, who knows a big task awaits his team.

“Kilkenny and Tipperary had huge battles in the late 2000s and some of those players would be heroes to us - we are just trying to replicate that,” Lawlor said at the launch of the 24th annual Circet All-Ireland GAA Golf Challenge.

“It’s mad the way things work out and we’ve been lucky enough to go straight into a semi-final any of the years I have been playing so you’d only get a crack against one or two teams after that but yeah it’s a good matchup.”

The Cats come into the game with another Leinster crown to their name as they look to maintain their form.

“We were focusing on ourselves after the Leinster final and just concentrating on training and we are now looking forward to facing Tipperary on Sunday afternoon.

“With the way the schedule is now, it’s hard to get in good blocks of training so the break has been good to us in that sense.

“We are always trying to improve as a team anytime we take to the field so hopefully we continue that way.”

Locally there is a lot of talk about the game but Lawlor and his team-mates are only looking at themselves and how they can get the best out of their side on the big occasion.

“It’s important as a team that we don’t let much outside noise affect us. There’s always a degree of narratives out there around these big games but we just focus on our hurling and listen to the voices within our bubble which is the most important thing for us.

“The game has changed a lot in the last few years and everyone will bring different approaches and we see a lot of it with teams isolating the balls low into the corner while others go more direct and I think you just need to be ready for everything really.”