CODY’S KITTENS LEARN ON JOB

CILLIAN BUCKLEY has pleaded with supporters to be patient with their rising stars. Buckley is still just 25 but is rapidly developing into one of the team’s most experienced performers in his seventh season. The three-time All-ireland winner is helping rookies like Paddy Deegan, Martin Keoghan, Pat Lyng, Alan Murphy, Richie Leahy and Enda Morrissey. Boss Brian Cody has also shown faith in the likes of Conor Browne, Luke Scanlon, Ollie Walsh and Conor Delaney too as they build a new team. A League final appearance may be a little ahead of schedule and Buckley reckons it’s important the players are given time. Buckley said: “Young lads deserve that bit of time. I needed time myself when I joined the panel. “You had the senior guys to learn from and to pit yourself against in training and that’s what the lads are doing now, there’s a handful of them that have taken to it and they seem to be enjoying the hurling and the competition that’s coming with it. “They’re challenge for places. They want to claim a place for later in the year and getting that chance to do it in the League is what they want. The pressure that comes with it is part of it. “The big matches come in the Championship so it’s great that they’re getting a sense of it now. A League final is a great place to learn about those pressures that come with inter-county hurling.” One certainty is that the Kilkenny team will look a lot different when they play Dublin in the Leinster Championship on May 13. They’re currently missing Paul Murphy and Colin Fennelly because of army duty while Richie Hogan is still recovering from injury. Buckley said: “Will there be changes? Definitely. But trying to predict is impossible, your guess is as good as mine.”