Derek Lyng’s second coming

There’s not a grey hair to be seen on Derek Lyng’s head. Five years have passed since the 37-year-old retired from Kilkenny but looking as trim as he was as a player and wearing a county tracksuit it’s hardly surprising people walking past in Langton’s Hotel are trying to place him in the squad.

For sure, he looks too young to be a selector never mind one in his second year assisting Brian Cody. Of the current panel, there remain seven with whom he soldiered with (it had been 12 before last year’s mass exodus).

Lyng’s transition from being “one of the lads” to “one of them” wasn’t as difficult as it might have been expected.