Paul Murphy Column- Lyng’s men earn rewards by battling right to final whistle

It was great to come out the right side of the result regardless of what way we went about that, but there’s a lot of positives that came out of the game.

Kilkenny got a great foothold in the match and went ahead, but I suppose where Derek Lyng and the lads will be looking to improve on the next day is that if you have an eight-point lead, you need to hold onto it. Don’t give momentum back to the opposition, which is what we did in the second half.

Galway outscored Kilkenny 1-11 to 0-4 at one stage and Derek will look at that and know that’s not what we are about. We put ourselves into that position to hold onto it, but you’d still have to say that there was brilliant character and spirit from the team to come back and ultimately the final whistle is the only time that the scoreboard really matters.

It was such an exciting finish to the game and something we probably hadn’t seen in many years in a Leinster Final. While it was gutting for Galway, it was great that Kilkenny came out on the right side of it.

When you look at the scramble for the ball in the corner at the end, lads were fighting for it and nobody could get the ball into their hand as it kept breaking down, but there was always a Kilkenny player there — whether it was TJ Reid , Mikey Butler or John Donnelly.

Kilkenny always had a player fighting for it. Something that was maybe missed in the analysis afterwards was the skill of John Donnelly who was only one yard from the sideline, and with a Galway man on his back, he was still able to strike the ball over his head and into a dangerous area.

The rest of the Kilkenny players were really gambling that if TJ or someone won it that they were going to try and hit the ball across, and they positioned themselves in such a way where getting a goal may be possible.

Cillian Buckley just hung around the ‘D’ with the potential that the ball may break to him, and it was a bit of a fluke that Padraic Mannion kicked it straight into his hand. While some people say if a ball like that breaks it’s down to luck, there is also the aspect of giving yourself the best chance so that if it does break, there’s a player in the right position.

The lads just never gave up, and even when Galway got their last point and all the momentum was with them, Kilkenny showed their character. They knew they had been in positions like that before, and if there’s still a chance, they’ll stay fighting.

The Kilkenny supporters really appreciated that they didn’t die out in the last minute or so, and they kept going until the end and got the result, which was the main thing.

You couldn’t ask to meet a more genuine player on or off the pitch than Cillian Buckley. If you ever see him in person, you can see straight away by the physique of the man how dedicated he is.

All through the years, Cillian’s attitude has been excellent. Any manager of any sport in the country would love to have a player with his attitude regardless of anything else.

His dedication to what he does is top notch, as he takes everything so personally in terms of his performance and what he does on and off the pitch.

As teammates, we would have always seen that with Cillian. In our heads, any time we had him in our team we were always in a great position to win because the work he used to get through; you know he’d put in a performance and play well.

He’s had a few injuries over the years, and I suppose trying to nail down a starting spot has been very difficult as there’s great competition there.

Cillian just goes about his business in a very humble way. I even bumped into former teammates Tommy Walsh and JJ Delaney outside Croke Park after the game, and we were all just delighted for him that he was the hero on the day — and no more deserving player to do that.

To win without a few key players was also important: If you look at Adrian Mullen, he gets through so much work that it’s hard to replicate it when he’s gone, so the fact that he was missing was a big one.

Richie Reid was missing too, Mossy Keoghan going off after a couple of minutes and Mikey Carey going out of the starting team — Kilkenny certainly have their fair share of injuries at the moment. It’s testament to the management that they have the players in such a place that the heads didn’t drop, because they were without what would perceived to be a few starting players.

The lads just got on with the job in hand. The four-week break will certainly stand to Kilkenny now as it gives them a chance to get those lads back on the field, while also putting pressure on lads that played in the Leinster Final. That type of competition before an All-Ireland semi-final is going to be huge.

It was a big one for Derek Lyng too, and it was the first cup in the locker for him. It’s a big achievement for Kilkenny to claim a fourth Leinster Championship in a row.

It was the first time that we saw the true mental strength of the team, and the way they reacted goes to show the job Derek is doing; he seems to have rejuvenated some of the more experienced players.