TJ Reid: Cats haven’t even started hurling yet
The Cats attacker nailed 10 points against Dublin on Sunday to ensure a league quarter-final meeting with Davy Fitzgerald’s Wexford on Sunday.
It consigned the Dubs, who went down to 14 men after goalkeeper Gary Maguire was dismissed, to a relegation scrap with Clare this coming weekend.
Conor Martin (1-5) and Liam Blanchfield (1-2) led the line for the Marble County, but the 2015 Hurler of the Year says the side haven’t yet honed in on their sharpness.
Their focus has been on building their athleticism ahead of the summer, as they look to retain Leinster and regain the All-Ireland title from Tipperary.
“Ah yeah look its early days; it’s still the end of March,” says talisman Reid.
“We probably started slow; we are building so championship is where we want to be peaking.
“At the end of the day nobody remembers the start of the league like, so as long as we progress and fine-tune, I think our standard of hurling is improving each week.
“You might see that because we are not doing a whole lot of hurling in training because this is physical work at the moment.
“Once the long evenings come in and the ground starts to harden up, that’s when the hurling will start then.
“Our hurling is improving, our first touch will improve and our vision for the ball will improve as well.”
After a slow start, The Cats have been picking up speed in recent weeks, gaining two wins and a draw since opening-round defeats to Waterford and Clare. Only Tipp were guaranteed a quarter-final place before Sunday, highlighting the topsy-turvy nature of this spring’s league.
“Yeah, they are,” says Reid of the even standard across Division 1A.
“We were losing against teams and they were beating teams so it was kind of all over the place there.
“Everyone is peaking and a lot of counties are back a lot earlier now because they are trying to raise their standards and raise the bar in terms of fitness.
“This time of year, if you are not fit and the ground is hard, the team with the fitter legs do usually win out games. But we are just building towards championship and trying to fine-tune as well.”
The main focus for Kilkenny during this league is to blood fresh talent for the summer.
Martin gave a sumptuous display at corner-forward against Dublin, showcasing a skillset that is sure to impress manager Brian Cody.
“Some lads hurled excellent here today, Conor Martin hurled unbelievable stuff there at corner-forward so we are moving on,” explains Reid.
“The ground is getting harder, the evenings are getting brighter so we are just looking forward to championship and looking forward to Wexford next week.
“(Martin has) been threatening in training and he’s been going well,” Reid adds.
“He’s a really good hurler and today it was like he’s been around for the last number of years and that comes from a bit of experience and confidence on the field as well.
“When you are new starting off, because you are wearing the black and amber jersey there’s responsibilities on your shoulders as well, but he was fine there today.
“He has to be going to those standards again next week.”
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