AS YOU WERE...
Young Cats earn seal of approval from Cody
BRIAN Cody praised his young players’ workrate and application as Kilkenny lifted themselves out of the relegation mire with a comprehensive eight-point win over Waterford. Martin Keoghan and Pat Lyng starred for the Cats, while veteran TJ Reid also shone, as Kilkenny set up a tasty-looking match against Tipperary in Nowlan Park next weekend. ‘It was a good win and a good display,’ Cody (left) observed. ‘It is great that these young players are bedding in because if you look at our team, there is an awful lot of new players there. We had very little experience in the team for the last few games and if the young fellas didn’t bed in, we wouldn’t be competitive at
all.’ Even though this was about the new generation, Kilkenny still relied on an old soldier to guide their way through the game as Reid nailed 111 on his return from injury. ‘Next week’s game with Tipperary is massive,’ Cody said. ‘And it does lift the team when you get a good win like this. If we were facing into it, having lost three games, it would be said that maybe the heads are down a small bit. But the players should get a bit of confidence from that display.’ One disadvantage of having such a young team is that a number are tied up in third level competitions next weekend. Cody says that he is going to release John Donnelly and Conor Delaney back to their college and they won’t be involved against Tipperary next Sunday. ‘It is a strange thing to see big matches, and lads committed with both their county and college. The college has to be respected and these lads have to be minded.’ Meanwhile, Derek McGrath admitted that last year’s AllIreland finalists are now in relegation trouble following the rousing defeat. ‘It isn’t the worst thing, dropping into 1B. There’s an influx of players now, like DJ Foran, which it wouldn’t be the worst for them in terms of long-term development. But we are not giving up on 1A yet. We are prouder than that.’