Offaly first up as busy league schedule awaits Kilkenny hurlers

Kilkenny’s hurling season really begins in earnest when they play host to Leinster neighbours Offaly in Division 1A of the Allianz League at UPMC Nowlan Park on Sunday afternoon (throw-in 2pm).

It’s the first of a six game schedule with further home clashes against Waterford and Cork to come with the Cats on the road to meet Limerick, Galway and Tipperary.

Kilkenny’s schedule looks a lot different for the springtime compared to a year ago as while their bye week was for the last round 12 months ago, it comes on the second weekend this time around so whatever happens on Sunday, Kilkenny will have a two week run-in to their TG4 televised game away to Limerick in the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday February, 8.

With a huge amount of players being looked at, Derek Lyng knows that league hurling is the perfect place to learn about his team.

“The league structure is fantastic and they are great games to get as we are going to find out an awful lot about our players,” he said. “We’ll quickly find out if we are progressing as a team as well and I think that’s going to be the most important part and if we are we will be very competitive.

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“That’s what we are working towards and they are the type of games where you’ll find out where you are at so really looking forward to getting going.

“We will see how we are with bodies during the week as there are a number of lads involved with their colleges and we’ll train during the week and on Friday night but we know we will have to up the performance levels again.”

One man who is unlikely to be seen for a few weeks yet is team captain TJ Reid as he gets set to embark on a 19th season with the senior team.

LISTEN: The Derek Lyng Interview - Kilkenny People Sport Podcast

“It will be a staggered approach for his return and it will be the same for a lot of players who’ve a lot of hurling under their belt over the last few years,” the Kilkenny manager admitted.

“We’ve huge competition in the squad so we will be looking at a number of those players over the next few weeks.

“It’s an exciting time and new faces bring a new energy to it so everybody is looking forward to the games picking up and it will be a great test for the lads starting with Offaly on Sunday.”

The return of the Walsh Cup after a brief hiatus saw Kilkenny take on Laois and Kildare and the manager sees the positives in getting games into players’ legs before the main action of the year unfolds.

“If we didn’t have the competition, we would have been organising challenge games and it was unfortunate that we didn’t get a match with Westmeath but the right decision was made for us, even if we missed out on a match.

“We’ve had two more games as well as a challenge game with Wexford and maybe we’ll be slightly undercooked going into the weekend but at the same time we are training hard and we just have to prepare as best as we can for the start of the league.”

FULL DEREK LYNG INTERVIEW: