Lack of match practice a big issue for Kilkenny Footballers in junior defeat

There was to be no Croke Park appearance for the Kilkenny footballers last weekend as they lost out narrowly in a thrilling junior championship semi-final with London.

After a valiant effort, Christy Walsh’s team came up short and the Kerry man summed up his feelings after the game.

“It was a great game and it was an exciting finish and it was just a pity that we couldn’t get over the line.

“We’d a couple of chances in the opening half to get a goal or two but the real difference was that was our first competitive game of the year.

“We’ve had five or six challenge matches up to now but it’s not the same thing and maybe we weren’t really ready for the intensity of the game and I think that showed in the end.

“The lads put in a huge effort and we were going very well over the last few weeks and we were positive coming into the game and while we did play well and get some good scores, we just fell up short in the end.”

Throughout the game London proved more proficient on the two pointers as they knocked over five in total including from their goalkeeper Caolan Doyle and that accuracy in attack did the job for UK outfit.

“London got a couple of two pointers and the goalkeeper went up and got a nice score before the end but we still nearly pulled it back in the end.

“There was great excitement in the final few minutes and on another day we may have forced the game into extra-time.

“The players were great tonight as the warm conditions were very difficult and it was much tougher football than they’d be used to playing at club level in Kilkenny,” Walsh finished.