Hunger not tactics key to Kilkenny’s winning streak

Leinster SHC semi-final

Kilkenny star Walter Walsh says “tactics don’t really come into the equation” with Kilkenny.

“Every year they say there’s a new way to play the game, but I don’t know.

“If you’re hungrier than the other team and you out-work them, then at the end of the day you’re going to win that game most of the time.

“It’s hard to say what way the game is going, but I think it comes down to work-rate and how hungry you are for it.

“Tactics don’t really come into the equation.

“There’s a number of teams that can beat any other on any given day. It’s very competitive. Even before I came it didn’t look to be as competitive as it is now because Kilkenny were very, very successful. But now it seems as though any team can beat any other on any given day.”

The big attacker also paid tribute to last season’s hurler of the year, TJ Reid, describing him as a “a real leader” ahead of the Cats’ Leinster championship clash with Dublin this weekend.

“TJ’’s in great form and is a great lad to play beside, a real leader. I suppose even just for the younger lads coming in again, they’d all really look up to TJ like I would have with Henry Shefflin when I was coming in. It’s brilliant that he’s going so well and hopefully he keeps getting those scores and playing like that for us.”

Walsh says Kilkenny’s winning culture is as strong as ever: “It’s just when you get a taste of success you want more and more of it.

“Brian Cody really drills it into us as well. He’s so hungry and he just wants to win, so a lot of that would come from Brian and the management team. As well, it comes from a personal level. You want to be the best you can be. You want to be successful. I think that’s what drives us on and makes us so hungry.”

Joining a team that was so successful could be daunting, Walsh recalls.

“Even in Nowlan Park they’d all have their particular seats where they’d sit and you wouldn’t be knowing where to sit. You’d see the younger lads coming in the same way now, they’d be unsure until they get their own spot about where they should be sitting.

“But I was coming in with the likes of Cillian Buckley, Joe Lyng and a good few others who were all coming in around the same time who had all played U21s together. So you’re not on your own either, and you know you’re alright when you have the lads there as well.

“I remember my first time in training Tommy Walsh came over and sat down beside me and just started chatting away to me. Tommy was a hero for me growing up, and it meant a lot. They have set the standard so high and we just try to come out and do what they did.

“They had a great attitude, they were great leaders as well, so we just try to go out and work hard like they did for the county. I suppose we just try to wear that jersey with pride.”