Cats begin major hurling review in search of the Kilkenny identity

Eoin Cody reacts during the Leinster SHC clash between Dublin and Kilkenny. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Kilkenny GAA has undertaken a major review after a difficult season and expects to produce a series of wide-ranging recommendations as early as next month.

After failing to make it out of the Leinster SHC round robin for the first time, officials turned to the clubs for input with a view to drawing up 'a series of recommendations' and 'a plan to drive continuous improvement in the county'.

Speaking on Community Radio Kilkenny City, county coaching and games chief David Denieffe revealed that those recommendations are expected to be revealed to clubs in October.

A total of 18 clubs responded to the call back in June with written submissions around perceived problems and potential solutions, while 25 clubs attended a forum on the issue.

"At a high level, there's about five or six obvious themes," said Denieffe, who explained that an independent facilitator has been brought in to help with the process.

"These are things like the development squads, improving our coaches, how we organise our games and our competitions, how we connect the club and the county, and then obviously facilities and how we run our county would also be very strong themes."

Speaking on the same local radio platform after Kilkenny's surprise exit from the Championship in May, former captain Andy Comerford was critical of the role played by development squads in the county, claiming they're 'just not working'.

Denieffe said he was surprised that in relation to the responses from individual clubs, 'there wasn't a huge amount of feedback on high performance and the whole sport side of things. I was surprised by the things that weren't there'.

Derek Lyng stepped down as manager after Kilkenny's Championship exit with Henry Shefflin subsequently replacing him.

"I was delighted to see that people spoke a lot about the Kilkenny identity," said Denieffe of the review. "There's huge pride in how Kilkenny play the game. I think that was really positive but that wasn't necessarily...it wasn't a surprise to hear. We all have pride in what Kilkenny are."

Denieffe said it was important that clubs were given the opportunity to air their views.

"After we exited the Leinster hurling championship earlier this summer, there was a lot of commentary and a lot of voices talking about issues that we were facing in Kilkenny hurling," he said. "The county board, and particularly the county management committee, realised that and put out a call back in June looking for suggestions and observations on how we might improve hurling in the county."

Denieffe agreed that there is hurt and frustration among the clubs having not collected a senior All-Ireland title since 2015.

"Oh, I think there is," he said. "People want success and they want success now. We just have to drive that one. Kilkenny sets a high standard and we expect a lot, we expect to be winning All-Irelands and we need to really get back to that point."

Coaching and Games Committee chairperson Denieffe was adamant that whatever recommendations are presented to clubs following the process must be implemented and acted upon.

"We brought in an independent facilitator to support us in that, a guy called Fintan Ryan from Mayo who has been a huge support," he said. "Fintan is meeting with the county management committee in September and then we're planning to go back to the county board with a series of recommendations, actions. Fundamentally, and I want to drive this point home, this will be worth nothing if we don't actually do something about it. There's no point in just hearing what people have to say - you actually have to act upon it."

On the issue of facilities, Kilkenny are at an advanced stage in terms of plans to develop their Dunmore training centre.

"They have presented to the county board on that one and presented with some really positive game changing ideas in terms of the number of pitches planned for Dunmore and what this facility will provide," said Denieffe.

New boss Shefflin is currently reviewing the club competitions in Kilkenny with the final round of senior hurling league games slated for this Saturday. The outcome of those games will decide what stage teams enter the county championship at.