Paddy Deegan: Kilkenny want All-Irelands not moral victories

Paddy Deegan and Kilkenny almost went all the way last year, coming up just short of Limerick in a cracking All-Ireland hurling final

SETTING TARGETS: Paddy Deegan at the recent announcement of the continued sponsorship by Glanbia & Avonmore of Kilkenny GAA. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

A trip to Laois on Sunday and, perhaps, an opportunity for Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng to experiment again.

Brian Cody's replacement has used 24 different players so far in his two National League games as manager and that figure looks set to rise significantly in the coming weeks.

We still haven't seen Richie Hogan or Eoin Murphy in those games nor the majority of the Ballyhale Shamrocks players including TJ Reid and Adrian Mullen.

Which has allowed Lyng to hand competitive starts to rookie and fringe talents like Aidan Tallis, Niall Rowe, Paul Cody, Conor Heary, Killian Doyle and former underage sensation Billy Drennan.

The more established Paddy Deegan has started both games, the win over Antrim and the defeat to Tipperary, and says it remains a work in progress as the Cats adjust to life after Cody.

To put the changeover into context, Deegan, now 27, had only turned three when Cody was first appointed in late 1998.

"I don't remember anything before Brian as manager, it's new for a lot of people," said Deegan at a promotion to highlight Glanbia's ongoing sponsorship of Kilkenny GAA.

"I wasn't expecting it (Cody's exit). Since I've been there, I wouldn't have known anything different so I maybe thought that it was going to go on until the next year and the next year. I was very surprised, yeah, but he owes Kilkenny nothing and he owes the GAA nothing. He's poured his heart and his soul into everything he's done and we'll be forever grateful for that."

Regardless of who is on the sideline, the ambition remains the same for Kilkenny in 2023, according to Deegan.

"The main objective is still winning an All-Ireland in the summer," he insisted. "But the league is massively important before that. There's not a big window between the league and the Championship so you want to be kind of getting to the top of your game towards the end of the league and making sure that you maintain that for the round robin series in Leinster."

Kilkenny, beaten by six points by Tipp at Nowlan Park in Round 2 of the league, won their rematch last weekend, albeit a challenge game for the Dillon Quirke Foundation.

"You don't want to be hitting your peak in the middle of January and trying to maintain that for six months," said Deegan of their approach to the year. "The important thing is performing to a level that's good enough to meet your standards during the league and then making sure that you're peaking at the right time. Our strength and conditioning coach, Mickey Comerford, is very good at judging that and no doubt he'll have us in great shape going into the Championship."

Deegan and Kilkenny almost went all the way last year, coming up just short of Limerick in a cracking All-Ireland final. Does that prove that the all-conquering Shannonsiders aren't unbeatable?

"At the end of the day we didn't beat them, so I can't really say that," shrugged Deegan. "Personally, I wouldn't take any comfort from it. The objective was to win the All-Ireland and we didn't do that. Moral victories in terms of performance, you don't really want those pats on the back. You want to be winning All-Irelands."

The question mark hanging over new manager Lyng is if he can max out the performance of his panel of players, like Cody seemed to be able to do in the last few years.

"Brian would always have said it was about the players," said Deegan, taking the pressure off Lyng. "He wouldn't have been taking all the credit for the wins in the past. He obviously played a huge role in it but I don't think he would have been taking the limelight off the players over the years. Derek has a great management team in place now and he's very organised so we're looking forward to this year and seeing what it brings."

Where Deegan ends up under Lyng this season will be worth noting too.

"I'll play where I'm put," said the versatile O'Loughlin Gaels man. "When I first came in, I was midfield. The following year I was a corner-back. I was wing-back last year and kind of played a match at wing-forward this year, so I'm kind of getting a bit of experience there as well."