Tommy Walsh hails Derek Lyng's impact as Kilkenny prepare for derby war with Tipperary
Lyng had massive shoes to fill when he succeeded legendary boss Brian Cody for the 2023 season.
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Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng and his side are just one game away from the All-ireland final
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Former Kilkenny star Tommy Walsh hailed his former team-mate
And while the gap to their 2015 Liam MacCarthy Cup triumph has yet to be bridged,
Having been on the losing side against Limerick at the end of his first season in charge, Lyng is one victory away from another All-Ireland SHC decider.
He has also steered the black and amber to three successive Leinster titles as their provincial supremacy continued for a sixth year on the spin.
And Walsh has been encouraged by how Kilkenny avoided going into the type of freefall experienced by Manchester United following the departure of their own iconic gaffer.
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The nine-time All-Ireland winner said: 'Look, what do you want out of your hurling team? You want to be competing.
'That every year you go out, you have a chance and you hope that you're going to be the All-Ireland champions come the end of July.
'We've seen it in Manchester United after Alex Ferguson.
'Manchester United have fallen away down to 17th in the table. And that was the worry that when Brian Cody left, would the same happen to maybe Kilkenny?
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'It didn't and Derek has kept us competing after winning six Leinsters now in a row and in All-Ireland finals, All-Ireland semi-finals every year.
'And with Limerick gone, it's nearly a weight off every other team that's left in the Championship that, 'You know what?
Palestine GAA players watch camogie match on laptop
"We can do it this year and we don't have to produce this extraordinary performance to beat Limerick to go on and win an All-Ireland'.
'Now you're nearly seeing every other team that's left in the Championship as your equal.
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"I think that was narrowed again even more so when your All-Ireland semi-final opponents are Tipperary, because I think whether that's a qualifier, whether that's an All-Ireland final, semi-final, I don't think that matters.
'This is a derby. This is Celtic versus Rangers, Manchester United versus Manchester City, Liverpool versus Manchester United.'
Not since their 2019 All-Ireland final defeat have Kilkenny faced
The recent winning of underage titles at the expense of their neighbours has helped the Premier to retain the bragging rights in the meantime.
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But Tullaroan native Walsh, who grew up just a few kilometres from Tipp territory, hopes Lyng's side can set the record straight tomorrow by advancing to the July 20 showpiece against Cork or Dublin.
SPLIT DECISION
The former Kilkenny star said: 'I suppose both sides of the border would know exactly what's going on in each other's heads and you're just praying that your team comes out the right side of it.
'Tipperary have done it in the All-Ireland minor final last year, they've done it in the All-Ireland Under-20 final this year, so we're praying that maybe this time we'll get the bit of luck and that we'll get the right side of it.
"From our playing days, there's nothing that prepares you for a derby.
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'They're ones you just have to live through the experience.'
The Cats' Eoin Cody will make his long-awaited return tomorrow after a ten-week lay-off due to injury.
Tipp manager Liam Cahill has announced the same team that started their All-Ireland quarter-final defeat of Galway.
KILKENNY: E Murphy; M Butler, H Lawlor, S Murphy; M Carey, R Reid, P Deegan; C Kenny, J Molloy; A Mullen, J Donnelly, B Ryan; M Keoghan, TJ Reid, E Cody. Subs: A Tallis, T Walsh, D Blanchfield, P Moylan, K Doyle, Z Bay-Hammond, F Mackessy, S Donnelly, L Hogan, L Connellan, B Drennan.
TIPPERARY: R Shelly; R Doyle, E Connolly, M Breen; C Morgan, R Maher, B O'Mara; W Connors, P McGarry; J Morris, A Ormond, S O'Farrell; D McCarthy, J McGrath, J Forde. Subs: B Hogan, J Caesar, S Kenneally, S Kennedy, B McGrath, N McGrath, O O'Donoghue, J Ryan, C Stakelum, D Stakelum, A Tynan.
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l TOMMY WALSH is an ambassador for 24th annual Circet All-Ireland GAA Golf Challenge. This year's event, in aid of GAA-related charities, takes place at Killarney Golf and Fishing Resort on October 16 and 17.
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Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Dublin hurling thriving and one club encapsulates what is building in the GAA
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But as club chairman Paul Nugent, Games Development Officer Stephen Stewart, club stalwart Terry Carthy and senior hurler Jack O'Connor can attest, Dublin's 2025 inter-county hurling side is in 'The Ready Position' - just one win away from a first All-Ireland SHC final in 64 years. That was before The Dubliners — with local hero Ciaran Bourke (tin whistle, flute, guitar) one of their three founding members — released their iconic version of The Merry Ploughboy, in 1969. Nugent played all the way through the club's age-grades, senior for 20-odd years, has been involved at intercounty level (1988-91), managed the senior team, been involved in the committees, been football chairman and occupied a few different roles too. But in his first year as chairman he knows there is something very special going on – the surge of excitement about the hurling team can almost be touched. 'Last week and this week has just been phenomenal. I suppose over the last 20 years, it was all about football, and obviously, with the six-in-a-row team, everyone was interested in that but it probably died down a little bit. 'You know, we used to get 82,000 into Croke Park all the time for the footballers but I suppose winning too much can breed a little bit of neglect, let's say. 'When Dublin won that match against Limerick, the surge in anticipation was plain to see, straight away we had hundreds of applications for tickets for the next match — I suppose people are longing to see them doing well. 'It's been creeping up over the last 10 years of effort put into Dublin hurling. I suppose it takes time to compete with the Kilkennys and Corks, who are hurlers all their lives and by nature go to school with a hurley, but we're getting there!' These weeks are camp weeks across the GAA; here on Kiltipper Road they alternate between football and hurling week on week and Thomas Davis is awash with kids, a reflection of a burgeoning underage section. 'We cater for 300 four-to-seven year old kids in our Saturday morning Academy and another 600 at CCC1 and CCC2 levels at weekends,' says Games Development Officer Stephen Stewart, who combines his work at club level with responsibility for 10 primary schools. His is an interesting combination, blowing his whistle, keeping the volunteers busy, handling logistics for different groups/different ages – he's a watchman, full of encouragement and perhaps helped by his primary schools' role, he seems to know every kid's name! Club dual star and 2022-24 Dublin minor football panelist Jack O'Connor is working skills with 11 year-old Ruairí Ó Murchú, part of a wider group on Thomas Davis's astro-pitch. 'Watching the last game and the lads pulling through with the red card. 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Cian O'Sullivan and John Hetherton's two goals in space a minute proved vital because the Dubs only won by two points. 'I think they will need to think clinically about goals against Cork but they have shown they definitely have goals in them, especially from those long, driven frees.' And yet Dublin hurling is not just about attaining a first All-Ireland final for seven decades, even if it is on the back of All-Ireland titles for Na Fianna (2025) and Cuala (2018 & 2017). They are the first Dublin clubs to have won that but this it was on the shoulders of a hell of a lot of club building - there have been 124 Dublin senior hurling Championships, dating back to 1887. Thomas Davis were on board for the county Championship within a year, a little-known entity from a tiny village against the backdrop of the Dublin mountains, its future as one of the city's thriving sprawls a long way off. Says Nugent of then and now: 'Our current facility was only bought in 1982, before that we were down near the village. We used to have a pitch there that we rented from Kevin Molloy, the local publican. 'Kevin was a barrister by trade, a very professional guy and on the committee here, and was instrumental in us buying this land in the late 1970/80s and starting us off here which was fantastic. 'We have an all-weather facility here albeit it's down 20 years and for which we are hoping to raise a lot of money, maybe ¤500k, to get it recovered alongside two main pitches, one we purchased from An Post probably six or seven years ago and we've recently developed. 'So we have great facilities but we also have over 100 teams so you never have enough facilities. It's always a battle with the county council to try and get enough pitches to cater for maybe 50 home games every weekend or during the week.' 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2 hours ago
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‘We didn't turn up' admits Hehir as she reveals Clare out to ‘rectify' camogie league final loss in All-Ireland quarter
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The 42
2 hours ago
- The 42
Absolute warfare: The return of Kilkenny and Tipperary after six years
IT WAS AN ugly saying to Kilkenny ears, but the inability of the Cats to beat Tipperary in a national final between the years of 1922 and 1967, during a time in which county hurling became a mass pastime and passion, gave rise to the expression, 'Kilkenny for the hurlers, Tipp for the men'. In some eras, one or the other wasn't quite at it. Tipperary went from 1971 to 1989 without an All-Ireland title, indeed, their 1988 defeat to Galway they only time they reached the final. During which time Kilkenny amassed six Liam MacCarthys to make themselves feel a whole lot better about themselves. The first meeting came in the final of 1895, a bit of a whitewash it was too as Kilkenny won 6-8 to 1-0. Another handsome Tipp win arrived in 1898; Tipp 7-13 Kilkenny 3-10. Kilkenny got one over on them, winning 4-6 to 0-12, in 1909. There were wins again for the Cats in 1911, 1913, before that spell from 1922 and 1967. Meanwhile, Tipp lifted the canister in 1916, 1937, 1945, 1950, 1964, 1971 and 1991. It took until 2009 for the pair to next meet in a final. The next three years were consumed by their rivalry that brought huge controversy and incidents. Take 2009. Tipperary came up the rails under Liam Sheedy. A few years of turmoil had bottomed out after another spell under Michael 'Babs' Keating and a generation of hurlers hadn't experienced what it was to be part of the preparation of an elite group of athletes. Kilkenny were chasing four-in-a-row. They had a settled management in Brian Cody, but as he was fond of saying, he cared little for a settled team, more a settled spirit. Sounds good, but what it meant was men gutting each other for their place on the team. The finals of 2007 and 2008 had been one-sided encounters as Kilkenny dispatched of the innocent Limerick and Waterford. This was different. An instant entry into the Hall of Fame. It looked to be heading Tipperary's way too. The odd thing was that they had substitute Benny Dunne dismissed in the 52nd minute for a wild pull on Tommy Walsh. Yet they upped their game and when Noel McGrath pointed ten minutes later, it left Tipperary two up. A minute later, Richie Power made a dash for goal. He was being fouled outside the square but referee Diarmuid Kirwan didn't blow. As he got inside the square, Kirwan felt Power was fouled by Paul Curran. Henry Shefflin stepped up and crashed to the net. And with that gale in their sails, Martin Comerford arrived a minute later to pilfer their second goal. Advertisement In 'Whatever It Takes', Richie Hogan's autobiography, he doesn't sound convinced about the penalty award. 'It was a soft penalty for sure, and if it was given the other way we would have been up in arms. We didn't often get those fifty-fifty decisions from referees, but we were happy to take it when it came,' wrote Hogan. Tipp manager Liam Sheedy was somewhat sanguine about it. 'It was a big call and matches are won on big calls. I've watched it again and it looked like a tight call. He started outside the square and finished inside it. Did anyone count the steps? These are big calls and the day you get those calls is the day you win the match.' Marty Morrissey was in puckish form in his day's work for RTÉ. In the television interview, Cody was praising Shefflin for burying his penalty when Morrissey came in, 'And was it a penalty, Brian, do you think?' Cue Cody asking Morrissey if he felt it was a penalty himself, and after a little more probing, Cody had enough. 'Ah Marty, please! Give me a break, will you?' was a highlight. The cameras cut back to the studio pundits where Ger Loughnane exclaimed, 'Will someone please pick up Marty off the floor there?' Brian Cody. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO Anyway, Kilkenny goalkeeper PJ Ryan was named Man of the Match and his reflex saves from Seamus Callanan and Eoin Kelly early in the second half went a long way to keeping Tipp down. What did it mean to Kilkenny? They weren't getting blasé about such achievements. Indeed, there was a plan that day in Croke Park of presenting Liam MacCarthy to the winning captain in a specially constructed platform. Those plans had to be shelved, stewards moving to 'Plan B' as fans spilled onto the pitch at the final whistle despite repeated requests from the GAA the week beforehand. The year after, we got our first sight of what we would soon come to understand was Total Hurling. Tipperary dragged Kilkenny players all over the defensive lines and their attack became not so much about hurlers taking shots, but the places and positions they found themselves in. Lar Corbett helped himself to a hat-trick of goals. The first came after Shane McGrath caught a PJ Ryan puckout and leathered it back in the same direction. All alone were Corbett and his marker, Noel Hickey. Corbett showed great strength to hold off Hickey and slipped the shot below Ryan's dive. His second came with a delivery to Noel McGrath. Hickey was tight to him but he produced a no-look handpass to the unmarked Corbett who dodged the thrown hurl of John Tennyson to net again. His final goal deep into injury time was the sweetest of touches. A ball inside was fielded by Bonner Maher. Lying on the turf he noticed Corbett had peeled off and, after taking a touch on the bás to kill the ball, lashed it home. Think of that touch and the aplomb that Corbett applied. Now take yourself 12 months on to the next final. Eddie Brennan streaming through the middle of the Tipperary defence. Richie Hogan has backpedalled into a position just left of the posts on the Hill 16 end. Brennan handpasses. Hogan takes a touch and then wallops it into the top corner. All that artistry wasn't the only thing about the rivalry. There were some bizarre moments too. Top of the list in that category was certainly the role that Corbett was handed in 2012; turning from an artist to a man-marker of Tommy Walsh. It took a surreal turn when Kilkenny refused to let it become a straight battle between Walsh – who was marking Pa Bourke anyway – and Corbett, so Jackie Tyrrell stayed on Corbett, which made for a bizarre quartet running around Croke Park. 'For ideal match-ups that was the plan that Lar would pick up Tommy and obviously Jackie Tyrrell didn't agree and he wanted a piece of it as well,' said Tipperary manager Declan Ryan. 'Tommy Walsh finished the game and his last 20 minutes was probably his best period of the game. I don't know how good he was in the first half. 'But I think ultimately results proved that it backfired to some extent on us.' It was a role that Tyrrell relished. For the 2011 final, he was handed the role of marking Corbett for the final. The week before, the Kilkenny coach Martin Fogarty handed Tyrrell a DVD of Corbett in action and what to look out for. Tyrrell himself put a photograph of Corbett as his mobile phone screensaver. Every time someone called, he would see Corbett's face. 'When I was in meetings or in other people's company, I would turn the phone in towards my body before I answered it. I didn't want people thinking I was a complete nut-job but the picture was there as a constant reminder to myself that something big was coming,' he wrote in his autobiography, 'The Warrior Code.' Fun and games. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO In 2013, they played a knockout qualifier in Nowlan Park with 23,307 present. It being only early July, they had been unaccustomed to meeting each other at this time. Henry Shefflin made a dramatic return for the last five minutes as Kilkenny prevailed 0-20 to 1-14, the Tipp goal inevitably coming from Corbett. Years later, a player from each side were on an All Stars tour and recalled that game. They admitted they had never played in a game with as feverish atmosphere. The 2014 decider came down to Hawkeye. In the first game, they drew Kilkenny 3-22 Tipperary 1-28. Kilkenny prevailed in the replay 2-17 to 2-14. But that it went to a replay was the incredible thing. The first game has frequently been described as the greatest game of hurling ever – a title that seems to get passed on every week or so in the last few seasons. The final play came down to John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer. He had been on fire that day with seven points, two from frees. He caught his last free sweet but at the very end of its flight it kicked outwards. Off to HawkEye for adjudication. 'I felt he had a chance,' said Tipp manager Eamonn O'Shea. Related Reads 'We keep everything in the circle... everything outside it is just irrelevant to us' Cork make three changes for All-Ireland hurling semi-final against Dublin Tippeary selector rejects suggestion that Liam Cahill 'flogs his teams' 'I thought it was over but obviously HawkEye said no. He got a great strike on it and he was unlucky.' Wide. No score. Replay in three weeks time. Kilkenny got the business done. By this stage Tipperary were wondering what hurling Gods they had upset. They got their vengeance in 2016. Seamus Callanan went bananas with 0-13 scored and a 2-29 to 2-20 win for Tipp manager Michael Ryan. It was the fifth final between these two since 2009. But Tipp badly needed to correct the record as it was the seventh meeting in eight years in championship, Kilkenny winning five up until that point. The final meeting of the decade was also the last time they have met: 2019. The Tipperary management of Darragh Egan, Liam Sheedy, Eamon O'Shea and Tommy Dunne after the 2019 final. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO And arguably, the biggest talking point of all. The game was warming up coming into half-time when Richie Hogan caught Cathal Barrett with a raised elbow. Some days it might have met with a stern ticking-off, or a yellow. Referee James Owens sent Hogan off. It led to Kilkenny's heaviest defeat under Brian Cody, 3-25 to 0-20. Naturally, the James Stephens man felt there were questions to be answered. 'Unfortunately, we lost a player and that is what is being spoken about. It is spoken about in general because there are divided opinions on what should or shouldn't be. 'Obviously, that is what happened to us. And we weren't able, we weren't good enough to take on Tipperary down a player. It's that simple.' Six long years have passed. It's time to take up the cudgels and let them go at it again. Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
