Kilkenny end relegation fears as Lyng looks ahead to Leinster championship

The Cats held off a Limerick fightback to clinch an important win.

JOB DONE: Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng before the game at UPMC Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Allianz HL Division 1A: Kilkenny 0-29 Limerick 0-20 

The domino effect of this first home win for Kilkenny this year won’t matter a jot to Derek Lyng but it sure had ramifications for hurling’s entire top flight.

Courtesy of The Cats holding off Limerick’s second-half rally, they avoided having to sit out a nervy evening next Saturday and hope results and margins didn’t go the way of Clare and Wexford.

Those counties will ply their trade in Division 1B next season as Tipperary will contest a first Division 1 final in seven years now that Limerick can no longer qualify for it. Either Cork, providing they don’t lose to Galway next Saturday, or the Tribesmen will complete the final pairing.

All that will matter to Lyng is a most timely return to character. Relegation fears dismissed, Kilkenny now have a five-week run to their Leinster SHC opener against Galway in UPMC Nowlan Park. Lyng’s men’s change of attitude was what mattered most to him after performing so below par in the first half of last week’s game against Tipperary when they trailed by six points.

Here, without suspended David Blanchfield and Mikey Carey and again Eoin Cody and Adriam Mullen, they raced into a 13-point lead early in the second half. Limerick subtracted nine from that margin before Martin Keoghan, Kilkenny’s player of the league, led them to this success.

“The expectations are to win here all the time and we understand that,” said Lyng. “We’re representing Kilkenny. I think the most disappointing thing during the week was it wasn’t a true reflection of those players and everybody involved.

“That was something that probably stuck with us during the week and we leaned on that and either face up to it or let it take over and we worked hard and got a result but that’s one result and we need to drive on now.” 

Although they only had 24 players available to them on Saturday and were without possibly five championship starters all who should be ready for Tipperary on Munster SHC’s opening day on Easter Sunday, Limerick’s interest in winning the league will be called into question as it was in 2021 and ’22.

A third game in as many weeks would have stretched some of the younger crew who have also had Fitzgibbon Cup commitments but their performance held up against how they dismantled Galway last weekend was just as contrasting as Kilkenny’s was to their previous outing.

“Believe me, I’m not happy that we haven’t win our game today, I can assure you of that,” insisted John Kiely. “It was everything in our intent to win our game and to win our game next weekend regardless of what the outcome was.

“For us, (a league final) two weeks into the championship followed by another two-week break into the following round, it wasn’t something daunting, it wasn’t something that undesirable to us. We were quite prepared to go that route but listen we’re not going that route now and that’s it. It’s out of our hands and we won’t be in the league final.” Kilkenny were up by 11 at the break, 0-18 to 0-7, as they consistently broke up Limerick’s support play through the middle. Shane Dowling had to pull off two excellent saves from Billy Ryan and TJ Reid on his way to recording a second successive clean sheet.

“We lost a number of battles in that first half and Kilkenny got a run on us and when Kilkenny get a run on you, you’re going to suffer on the scoreboard,” rued Kiely. “Eleven points of a deficit at half-time is an awful lot to do against a Kilkenny side any year.” 

William O’Donoghue and Cian Lynch were fundamental to the Limerick fightback but Kiely bemoaned the lack of cohesion in some of this team’s play. They didn’t score from the 61st minute onwards as Keoghan struck his sixth and seventh point from play to ensure a rare campaign without a home win was averted.

Paddy Deegan was sent off for a second booking in his dying minutes but Kilkenny’s discipline was a vast improvement on last week’s showing. “It’s a fast game and sometimes you might feel for lads who slip but I think the approach is the right approach,” remarked Lyng. “Nobody wants to see the head taken off anybody but I don’t think anybody goes out to do it either. We have to be very disciplined from hereon in. That’s the reality of it.

“We had enough cards last week to learn from that and we spoke about it during the week that we had to be disciplined in how we got about it as well. We want physicality but we have to go about it the right way. The lads didn’t go out to hurt anybody last week. At the same time, it’s a learning for us and we have to take that now.” 

Reporting he is “quite happy with where we are overall”, Kiely spoke of Limerick’s fair play in the last couple of games. “We were the only team that didn’t receive a red card last weekend.

“I don’t think we were reffed any different to any of the other teams. Our play has actually been very disciplined. Our tackling has been very disciplined and I think we have been rewarded by the fact that we haven’t picked up red cards. So I think what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” 

Scorers for Kilkenny: T.J. Reid (0-10, 8 frees); M. Keoghan (0-7); F. Mackessy (0-3, 1 free); C. Kenny, B. Ryan, J. Donnelly (0-2 each); P. Deegan, J. Molloy, T. Walsh (0-1 each).

Scorers for Limerick: D. Reidy (0-8, 7 frees); T. Morrissey, C. Coughlan, A. O’Connor (0-2 each); S. O’Brien, E. Hurley, P. O’Donovan, A. English, A. O’Connor, D. Ó Dalaigh (0-1 each).

KILKENNY: E. Murphy; M. Butler, H. Lawlor, T. Walsh; S. Murphy, R. Reid, P. Deegan; J. Molloy, C. Kenny; F. Mackessy, B. Ryan, J. Donnelly (c); L. Hogan, T.J. Reid, M. Keoghan.

Subs for Kilkenny: K. Doyle for J. Molloy (temp 48-49); K. Doyle for C Kenny (inj 57); H. Shine for L. Hogan (59); E. Lyng for F. Mackessy (66); P. McDonald for J. Molloy, G. Dunne for T.J. Reid (both 70+3).

Sent off: P. Deegan (second yellow, 70+4).

LIMERICK: S. Dowling; M. Casey, S. Finn, B. Nash; C. Coughlan, W. O’Donoghue, E. Hurley; A. English, C. Lynch (c); T. Morrissey, D. Reidy, C. O’Neill; S. Flanagan, S. O’Brien, A. O’Connor.

Subs for Limerick: P. O’Donovan for C. O’Neill (34); D. Ó Dalaigh for S. Flanagan (53); E. Stokes for T. Morrissey, M. Houlihan for A. English (both 70+1); O. O’Farrell for S. O’Brien (70+2).

Referee: C. Lyons (Cork).