Kilkenny hurlers get ready to kick off new season on home soil

The Kilkenny senior hurlers are training away ahead of the commencement of the Walsh Cup, which begins on Sunday week.

It will be something of a new era for hurling in the county as Derek Lyng becomes the first man outside of Brian Cody to lead the county team into action since 1998.

The former six-time All-Ireland winner has brought in Michael Rice, Peter Barry and Peter O’Donovan as selectors while Conor Phelan will also be on the management team as the one remaining link from Brian Cody’s last year in charge.

Mickey Comerford will then continue in his role involved in Strength and Conditioning alongside John Murphy.

It’s expected that Derek Lyng will bring in a number of new faces for the pre-season competition with a number of last year’s All-Ireland winning under-20 side expected to get the chance to impress over the next few weeks.

Lyng will be without a quartet of important players from the 2022 squad that reached the All-Ireland final with Conor Browne, Richie Leahy, James Maher and Mikey Carey all going travelling.

The Cats kickstart their campaign at home to Offaly in Callan before away trips to neighbours Laois and Wexford follow over the next two weekends.

Kilkenny supporters are again reminded to book tickets for the Wexford game under lights as soon as possible.

Walsh Cup Fixtures

Round One: Kilkenny v Offaly, Sunday, January 8 in John Locke Park, Callan at 2pm
Round Two: Laois v Kilkenny, Sunday, January 15 in Rathdowney at 2pm
Round Three: Wexford v Kilkenny, Saturday, January 21 in Chadwick’s Wexford Park at 6pm
Walsh Cup final: Saturday, January 28 in Croke Park at 3pm.