Winning start for Derek Lyng as Kilkenny get past Offaly challenge

The Derek Lyng era is off to a winning start as a new-look Kilkenny began 2023 on the right foot.

Fielding six debutants, the Cats battled to victory in the Walsh Cup opener as they got the better of a spirited Offaly at John Locke Park.

Goals in either half from Ian Byrne and Tom Phelan paved the way to victory, but Lyng’s men had their work cut out to see off Johnny Kelly’s side.

A bright start saw Kilkenny shoot into a 1-8 to 0-3 lead inside 18 minutes. Billy Drennan got the ball rolling with some early points before Byrne found the net on 13 minutes, his shot wriggling free from the grasp of netminder Eamonn Cleary.

Despite this the Faithful County clawed their way back into the game. A string of points from Cillian Kiely (4), David Nally (2) and Brian Duignan to close to within four points at the interval (1-11 to 0-10).

Offaly were quick out of the blocks after the restart. Four Kiely frees helped their cause before Ross Ravenhill had them on level terms by the 45th minute.

That was as good as it got for the visitors though, as another Drennan free pushed Kilkenny into a lead they would not lose. Padraic Moylan and Timmy Clifford were also among the point scorers before Tom Phelan latched on to a Paddy Deegan pass and drilled a low shot to the far side of the net to send Kilkenny on their way.

Next up for the Cats is a meeting with Laois in Rathdowney on Sunday. See this week’s Kilkenny People for more match reaction.

SCORERS

Kilkenny - Billy Drennan (0-9, 0-5 frees, 0-1 65); Ian Byrne, Tom Phelan (1-0 each); John Donnelly, Bill Sheehan, Niall Brennan (0-2 each); Conor Heary, Padraic Moylan, Alan Murphy, Timmy Clifford (0-1 each).

Offaly - Cillian Kiely (0-13, 0-11 frees); David Nally (0-4, 0-2 frees); John Murphy, Ross Ravenhill, Charlie Mitchell, Brian Duignan (0-1 each).