Three games into Kilkenny’s National Hurling League campaign and already they are closing in on 30 different players used.
For Kieran Joyce, a key figure in the last Kilkenny team to win the All-Ireland, all of 10 years ago now, it’s a sign of the times. As strange as it sounds for five-in-a-row provincial champions and Liam MacCarthy Cup finalists in 2022 and 2023, you might even say that the Cats are in transition.
Goalkeeper, centre back, midfield, the list of central positions apparently up for grabs at the moment is significant, and opportunity will knock once again when Limerick arrive at Kilkenny’s door this Sunday.
“I’d say the league will be a case of Derek trying to find his 36 or whatever the panel size is going to be,” said Joyce, outlining the challenge. “He’ll probably try to build that as much as he can with whatever experience that he already has there.
“Because there are a lot of guys there with a lot of experience. But it’s 10 years since they won an All-Ireland. It’s not quite the elephant in the room but the big thing in Kilkenny is trying to get back to that All-Ireland day and trying to finally get over the line.”
In goalkeeper Eoin Murphy’s absence Aidan Tallis has started all three league games. Joyce reckons Huw Lawlor is the nailed on full back, though David Blanchfield, Mikey Carey or even former Kerry defender Fionan Mackessy could be the choice at number six.
Jordan Molloy has started two of Kilkenny’s three games this season and began the campaign wearing number nine alongside Peter McDonald at midfield, a novel pairing. Zach Bay Hammond, Harry Shine, Luke Hogan and Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup finalists Pádraig Moylan and Killian Doyle have also started games this term.
A broader question is that with TJ Reid still absent, and Walter Walsh, Cillian Buckley and Conor Fogarty retiring over winter, has Kilkenny hurling reached a rare crossroads of having no superstar players? There certainly isn’t a DJ Carey, a Henry Shefflin, a Tommy Walsh or a Richie Hogan leaping off their team sheet.
“We know with Kilkenny for a number of years we’re so reliant on TJ, and if TJ had a bad game Kilkenny would have a bad game,” said Joyce. “I suppose at the moment Eoin Cody and Mossy Keoghan are probably the two main guys that are kind of leading the lines.
“Mossy has been very good in the last couple of years. He probably doesn’t get the plaudits in terms of the scorelines and that kind of stuff. But they’re probably your two main players.”
Kilkenny haven’t won an All-Ireland minor championship since 2014, and they’ve taken just one under-20 title since 2008. So the supply line is an issue.
“When I came into the Kilkenny senior panel I had two All-Ireland under-21 medals at that stage,” said Joyce. “I lost a minor All-Ireland. A lot of the players coming in now, are they making those sorts of inroads at that level, are they regularly at that stage to make the next step?
“They’re probably not, and that’s reflected then in we’re not churning out the same players, and we’re probably relying on the old guard an awful lot more than we should, compared to other counties I suppose.”
The round of winter retirements has left Kilkenny with only goalkeeper Murphy and Reid still active at county level from the 17 players that featured in the 2015 All-Ireland final win over Galway. Joyce was centre back on that side, capturing his fourth senior medal.
“There are players there, I’m thinking of the Huw Lawlors, the Paddy Deegans, those guys have lost three or four All-Irelands now,” said Joyce. “To keep coming back to the well every year is hard. It was completely different from our aspect, we were winning them.
“There’s probably a grá there for those players every single year saying, ‘I want to get back, I want to right that wrong. I just want to close out my career, or my time playing with Kilkenny, with an All-Ireland’.”
There are no guarantees though, and manager Derek Lyng could even hit the championship with a new-look Kilkenny team.
“I think we are seeing the squad rotated more than traditionally used to happen with Kilkenny, and it’ll be a case of trying to nail down your spine,” said Joyce, who referenced the crucial number six position.
“You would like to see them giving a David Blanchfield or a Mikey Carey, whoever it is, just give him the full campaign and see how they go because I know myself the more games you get in that position the more confidence you get.”
