Hurling 2026

[seafoid]

Shefflin new KK manager.



https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2026/0706/1582098-shefflin-appointed-kilkenny-hurling-manager/

I think this is a desperation one, I just don't think he has the tools at his disposal at the moment. Unless there is a major overhaul of the squad, but even at that is there the conveyor belt of talent coming along that there once was?

Last minor all Ireland was 2014. Last u20 was 2022 but it didn't produce any players. Galway won Leinster u20 and Minor this year. It doesn't look like he can replicate what Mícheál Donoghue did in Galway. There is nothing coming through. Kilkenny also need to adapt to the modern style of hurling. It's a massive challenge to get Kilkenny back to the top table. Brian Hogan and David Herity have been mentioned as selectors.

[seafoid]

April

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2026/04/25/kilkenny-under-scrutiny-after-galway-rout-but-former-players-urge-patience/

Kilkenny under scrutiny after Galway rout but former players urge patience
Heavy defeats to Galway raise questions about Derek Lyng's side ahead of Wexford clash
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Jordan Molloy with Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho
Jordan Molloy with Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho
Gordon Manning's picture
Gordon Manning
Sat Apr 25 2026 - 06:00
•
6 MIN READ

They came from various hurling heartlands to Hotel Kilkenny on Thursday night to honour Eddie Keher. Former team-mates, former opponents, forever hurlers.

The Rower-Inistioge club has plans to erect a bronze statue of its most famous son, and the appreciation night was a central part of the fundraising drive.

Keher was there, Brian Cody too, Noel Skehan, Tommy Walsh, Babs Keating, Pat Hartigan. Hurling royalty.

But even on a night to recognise one of the greatest Cats, it was impossible to avoid the elephant in the room. Because the more the glorious mysteries of the old days were recounted, the edges smoothed by the passing of the years, the rougher the current plight appeared.

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It has been a long, hard week of introspection in the Marble City. If hurling truly is a religion in Kilkenny, these past few days have been a test of faith.

Last Saturday's 3-25 to 1-16 loss to Galway in Salthill was Kilkenny's biggest Leinster SHC reversal since 1990. In isolation, it's a concern.

But having lost to the same opposition at the same venue by 18 points in the league only last month, well there were simply not enough prayers you could offer up or candles you could light in St Canice's Cathedral this week.

The 0-35 to 0-17 defeat to Galway in March was the county's heaviest league loss since the 1952/53 campaign. Are we witnessing the fall of Kilkenny? Has the House of Cody crumbled?

Tommy Walsh, who epitomised the Kilkenny way throughout his career, thinks not.

"You don't become a bad player overnight," he says. "We've seen these players perform brilliantly on the biggest of stages, under huge pressure. So we know they can do it."

The all-conquering sides of the Cody era carved out an aura built entirely upon a bedrock of relentless hard work and a culture of individual accountability.

[ Kilkenny miles off the pace in 15-point defeat to improving GalwayOpens in new window ]


Derek Lyng was one of the central cogs on those teams. That, aligned with the fact he was willing to take the reins after Cody stepped away has earned him credit in the bank among most Kilkenny supporters.


Plus, they tend to steer clear of public floggings in Kilkenny.

Walsh didn't have too many humbling defeats with the county, but in the aftermath of those rare losses he remembers how former players acted.

"You might get a text, or you might get a phone call off those guys, it's such a small county that you'd bump into lads," he recalls. "But they'd always get behind you and it meant an awful lot. You're trying to do that now after you've retired.

"You don't go around giving false praise, you encourage them for the work that they are doing. So, 100 per cent, we're circling the wagons.

"And everybody has different ways of doing it. Yes, you'll have lads that talk straight, the likes of Darragh Ó Sé and the Kerry lads, we have them in Kilkenny as well, but they're genuine behind it.

"These players, they mean the absolute best and they're trying to drive it on. So absolutely, we're circling the wagons here. Kilkenny hurling, it's like Brazil with the soccer, it's like New Zealand with the rugby. This is our sport, this is our life.


"When you're in the hurling fields seven days of the week, sure it's your life. We'll all be behind the team on Saturday night."


A couple of ex-players have strayed slightly from the black and amber flock recently in that regard but in general former Kilkenny hurlers have firmly held the line.

There has been plenty of friendly fire from outside the county boundary though.

Speaking on RTÉ's GAA podcast during the week, former Tipperary captain Shane McGrath said Kilkenny looked "devoid of a structure and a game plan" against Galway.

He added: "As championship performances go in terms of Kilkenny, (it was) one of their poorest in a long time."

Nobody in Kilkenny would contest that suggestion. They don't need a lecture on hurling to know when a team of theirs has gone out and done very little of it.


They lost 12 of their own puckouts while Galway won almost 60 per cent of the turnover battles. Kilkenny scored 0-9 from play, Galway registered 2-18.

TJ Reid, at 38 years of age and having only made his first appearance of the year in the final round of the league, was Kilkenny's top scorer with 1-8. Next up was Eoin Cody with 0-2 and then six players with a single point apiece. That spread won't win many matches.

Kilkenny were the only team outside of the relegation places in Division 1A to finish the league with a scoring difference in the red, ending on -23. Cork finished with +42. That's a 65-point gulf from just six games.

Billy Ryan's decision to take a year out is a blow to their attacking threat and it is clear Kilkenny need Adrian Mullen back on the field.

GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Semi-Final, Croke Park, Dublin 6/7/2025.
Kilkenny's Adrian Mullen. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho
GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Semi-Final, Croke Park, Dublin 6/7/2025. Kilkenny's Adrian Mullen. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho
The selection of Aidan Tallis between the posts ahead of four-time All-Star goalkeeper Eoin Murphy has generated plenty of debate, while the true impact of Huw Lawlor's absence at the heart of the defence is starting to be realised.

Keating was one of the special guests in Hotel Kilkenny on Thursday night. There was a time when Keher and Keating would have been far more likely to give each other a belt than a compliment.

Keating tells a story of once inadvertently finding himself in a hotel elevator with Keher, where for the duration of their confined experience neither so much as acknowledged the other.

But Keating was there on Thursday as Keher's career was celebrated. And inevitably, talk also veered to the present.

"They just don't have the players right now," Keating says of Kilkenny. "When you look at the underage over the last few years, where are the standout players? They haven't been doing it at underage."

Kilkenny last won an All-Ireland minor title in 2014. They were under-20 champions in 2022 but that is their only All-Ireland triumph at that grade in the last 17 years.

They haven't lifted the Liam MacCarthy since 2015 and are currently enduring their longest drought since first winning a senior All-Ireland in 1904.

Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Croke Cup Final, Croke Park, Dublin 17/3/2026.
St. Kieran's College celebrate with the trophy.
Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Masita All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Croke Cup Final, Croke Park, Dublin 17/3/2026. St. Kieran's College celebrate with the trophy. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
But Kilkenny will always be Kilkenny. St Kieran's College won the Croke Cup last month. It's the third time in four seasons the county's famed hurling academy has won the All-Ireland colleges title – and indications the production line is purring again.

"Normally, when I'm talking about hurling, you have your pundit's hat on, or you're analysing a game," adds Walsh.

"But in this situation, we're not talking about a game, I'm deeply embedded in what we're talking about here – Kilkenny hurling. I'm part of all that. So, it's definitely a very personal matter.

"I know all the lads that are involved in senior, under-20, minor, all the development squads, and the work that's going on is unbelievable as regards the genuineness and the amount of time everyone's putting in.

"They have a great saying for the Kilkenny underage development squad, 'Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí' – praise the young and they will come."

But it's Wexford who will come to Nowlan Park with a bit of a swagger on Saturday. Kilkenny haven't looked this bereft of confidence in years. But that makes them at the same time both very vulnerable and very dangerous.

Because to question Kilkenny can be a mug's game. They are the reigning Leinster champions, this season aiming for a seventh consecutive Bob O'Keeffe triumph.

The last time a provincial final took place without them was in 2017. Kilkenny have contested 19 of the last 21 Leinster senior hurling finals.

A defeat to Wexford this weekend would raise the prospect of a final without them this summer. But from Thomastown to Tullaroan, it feels from beneath the ashes of their Salthill tribulations a call to arms has been raised. The flock is being summoned to Nowlan Park.

"The whole county is behind these players," adds Walsh. "I would expect a huge support against Wexford."

Because while it might not be a last stand for Kilkenny, it's a season-defining one, nonetheless.

[seafoid]

June

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2026/06/03/denis-walsh-the-strongest-candidate-to-succeed-derek-lyng-at-kilkenny-is-not-who-you-think/
Denis Walsh: The strongest candidate to succeed Derek Lyng at Kilkenny is not who you think
Hurling's former kingpins are trapped between what winning used to look like and what winning has become
Denis Walsh's picture
Denis Walsh
Wed Jun 03 2026 - 12:46
•
4 MIN READ

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Manager Derek Lyng during Kilkenny's Leinster SHC round-five defeat to Dublin at Parnell Park last month. It would prove to be his last match in charge of the team. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Manager Derek Lyng during Kilkenny's Leinster SHC round-five defeat to Dublin at Parnell Park last month. It would prove to be his last match in charge of the team. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
In keeping with everything else he has done in the service of the jersey, nothing about Derek Lyng's last days as Kilkenny manager has been an opera. After their elimination from the championship in Parnell Park 10 days ago, he fronted up to the post-match interviews with characteristic dignity. There were no attempts at deflection or no excuses. On his square shoulders he carried responsibility for everything in his charge.

By stepping down on Tuesday he brought a quick end to speculation that would otherwise have spiralled over the coming weeks. Given his standing, it is unlikely there would have been a heave against Lyng, but Kilkenny didn't need a summer of waiting and wondering.

The county board has time to think and a big decision to make. When Henry Shefflin was appointed as under-20 manager for this season, the general belief was that he would be Lyng's successor. The companion assumption, though, was that Lyng would stay for a fifth year and see out the second season of his extension.

This year, Shefflin brought the Kilkenny under-20s to a Leinster final where they lost by nine points to a Galway team who didn't start either of their best players against them. In his managerial career so far, all of Shefflin's success has been with his club Ballyhale Shamrocks, a star-studded team whom he led to back-to-back All-Ireland titles.


But in Shefflin's three years as Galway manager he oversaw a period of stagnation and, ultimately, regression. In terms of the modern game, their tactical approach was relatively unsophisticated, which is precisely where Kilkenny find themselves now: trapped between what winning used to look like and what winning has become. In that game, Kilkenny have been slow learners.

The other obvious alternative is Brian Dowling, the current Kildare manager. His intercounty playing career was comparatively short and low wattage but his success as a coach has been extraordinary.

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Since the turn of the decade, he has won the Christy Ring Cup and the Joe McDonagh Cup with Kildare, two All-Ireland camogie titles with Kilkenny and led St Kieran's College to three All-Irelands.

Kildare were relegated from the Leinster championship this year but their competitiveness in most games exceeded expectations. As a coach, Dowling is in tune with how the modern game is being played by the most successful counties. For years, Kilkenny have been in denial about making this leap.

Shefflin's decision to take the Galway job was divisive in Kilkenny and famously didn't meet the approval of Brian Cody, but there is no lingering fall-out that would prevent him from getting the Kilkenny job now. Over the years, other former Kilkenny players such as Eddie Brennan, Martin Comerford, Michael Fennelly, Eoin Larkin and Michael Kavanagh took on coaching roles with counties who were no threat to Kilkenny without a hint of local rebuke. Dowling is in that bracket too.

For the first three years of Lyng's time as manager it was easy to argue that Kilkenny were among the top-three teams in the country but there was also a pattern of decline. They were competitive for three-quarters of the 2023 All-Ireland final against a Limerick team at their devastating peak, but they lost the last two All-Ireland semi-finals to teams who were stronger in the home stretch.

Kilkenny were unquestionably discommoded by a scoreboard c**k-up in the closing minutes of last year's semi-final against Tipperary – mistakenly believing they needed a goal to draw the game when two points would have been enough. But Tipperary played the last 15 minutes of that game with 14 men and Kilkenny were simply unable to manage the ball and prosecute their advantage.

In their winning years, when Kilkenny were masters of hurling's universe, an outcome like that would have been inconceivable.

Beneath the surface, they have issues with player pathways. Michael Dempsey, the former Kilkenny selector and trainer, led a review of Kilkenny's development structures which has brought about reform in recent years. But as Cork found to their cost, these changes take years to bear fruit.

Kilkenny had fallen off the pace in their squad systems and there was bound to be a price to pay. Last weekend, their minors lost an All-Ireland quarter-final by 12 points to a Cork team that finished third in Munster.

They have lost the habit of winning big games too. Since 2015, Kilkenny have contested 13 All-Ireland and National League finals at senior, under-20/21 and minor level and won just two of them.

"The overriding issue is one of coaching," wrote Enda McEvoy in the 2024 Kilkenny Yearbook. "The events of the past summer have demonstrated yet again, in shrieking neon, that Kilkenny's intercounty coaching model is not fit for purpose. Hitting the ball hard down the field is not a viable approach. It is not even an approach."

Lyng and his coaches tried to modify that approach over the last couple of years, but it led to fogginess and incoherence. Players were being asked to adopt a system of play in a Kilkenny jersey that is not accepted by the clubs or not approved by their supporters. Against the elite teams, though, Kilkenny's old way of playing was no longer cutting any ice.

They still have some very good hurlers and plenty of decent players. Even in Cody's time there were players on the Kilkenny team who were not blessed with outrageous talent but who grafted to make the most of what they had. Lyng was one of those players.


This year, though, Kilkenny were less than the sum of their parts. For whoever comes next, addressing that deficit will be the essential starting point.

[marty34]

Would Noel Doherty not have been an option for Kilkenny manager?

[Milltown Row2]

Would Noel Doherty not have been an option for Kilkenny manager?

It makes no bearing on who they bring it at senior level..

Kilkenny's biggest appointment would need to be their hurling development boss, nothing of note coming through

[johnnycool]

Mark Landers is having so go at Ben O'Connor since Saturday.

There's history there, neighbouring clubs and an old dig at Ben's Da, Bernie ruining Cork hurling with the running game.

If anyone thinks that Ben O'Connor was going to fix the underlying issue with Cork hurling in a year is for the birds.

When Cork are under pressure they fold. Teams who stand off them will get roasted, teams that go at them hard and prolonged find the openings in their fragility soon enough.

For me they never solved the 3 and 6 spots and I'm not a fan of the Downey brothers, there's a cheap slap in them but true hardness, like a Will O'Donoghue, John Conlon or Daithi Burke isn't in them.

[Franko]

Mark Landers is having so go at Ben O'Connor since Saturday.

There's history there, neighbouring clubs and an old dig at Ben's Da, Bernie ruining Cork hurling with the running game.

If anyone thinks that Ben O'Connor was going to fix the underlying issue with Cork hurling in a year is for the birds.

When Cork are under pressure they fold. Teams who stand off them will get roasted, teams that go at them hard and prolonged find the openings in their fragility soon enough.

For me they never solved the 3 and 6 spots and I'm not a fan of the Downey brothers, there's a cheap slap in them but true hardness, like a Will O'Donoghue, John Conlon or Daithi Burke isn't in them.

100%

Add Tim O'Mahony to that.  Spends his time running around midfield trying convince observers of his ability to kill dead things.

[seafoid]

Mark Landers is having so go at Ben O'Connor since Saturday.

There's history there, neighbouring clubs and an old dig at Ben's Da, Bernie ruining Cork hurling with the running game.

If anyone thinks that Ben O'Connor was going to fix the underlying issue with Cork hurling in a year is for the birds.

When Cork are under pressure they fold. Teams who stand off them will get roasted, teams that go at them hard and prolonged find the openings in their fragility soon enough.

For me they never solved the 3 and 6 spots and I'm not a fan of the Downey brothers, there's a cheap slap in them but true hardness, like a Will O'Donoghue, John Conlon or Daithi Burke isn't in them.

Anyone who thinks the running game ruined Cork hurling is for the birds. 22 years.
Can't win a final.

[Deerstalker]

Mark Landers is having so go at Ben O'Connor since Saturday.

There's history there, neighbouring clubs and an old dig at Ben's Da, Bernie ruining Cork hurling with the running game.

If anyone thinks that Ben O'Connor was going to fix the underlying issue with Cork hurling in a year is for the birds.

When Cork are under pressure they fold. Teams who stand off them will get roasted, teams that go at them hard and prolonged find the openings in their fragility soon enough.

For me they never solved the 3 and 6 spots and I'm not a fan of the Downey brothers, there's a cheap slap in them but true hardness, like a Will O'Donoghue, John Conlon or Daithi Burke isn't in them.

Anyone who thinks the running game ruined Cork hurling is for the birds. 22 years.
Can't win a final.

Personally I don't pay too much heed to anything Landers says, an absolute tool and grifter

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/2026/07/09/ringmahon-rangers-given-five-year-ban-from-fai-cup-for-failing-to-fulfil-fixture-against-bohs/

Ringmahon Rangers have been banned from the FAI Cup for five years and fined €5,000 by the FAI for handing Bohemians a walkover of their second round cup tie later this month.

In a hefty punishment, the Cork club have also been banned from the FAI Intermediate Cup for the next three years, a competition in which Ringmahon have been runners-up in each of the last two seasons.

Ringmahon were paired with Bohemians in the second round draw, with the game fixed for Sunday, July 19th owing to Bohemians' Conference League tie against St Joseph's three days earlier. Ringmahon had home advantage, but with their home ground ruled unsuitable to host the tie, they initially sought to move the game to Turner's Cross.

When they learned that Turner's Cross was unavailable on that date, they explored moving the game to Cobh, before deciding to withdraw from the game altogether. The club said they were worried about a reduced attendance because of Cobh's distance from their home ground, along with the fixture clashing with the World Cup final and Cork's potential appearance in the All-Ireland hurling final.

[ClubScene13]

Mark Landers is having so go at Ben O'Connor since Saturday.

There's history there, neighbouring clubs and an old dig at Ben's Da, Bernie ruining Cork hurling with the running game.

If anyone thinks that Ben O'Connor was going to fix the underlying issue with Cork hurling in a year is for the birds.

When Cork are under pressure they fold. Teams who stand off them will get roasted, teams that go at them hard and prolonged find the openings in their fragility soon enough.

For me they never solved the 3 and 6 spots and I'm not a fan of the Downey brothers, there's a cheap slap in them but true hardness, like a Will O'Donoghue, John Conlon or Daithi Burke isn't in them.

Anyone who thinks the running game ruined Cork hurling is for the birds. 22 years.
Can't win a final.

Personally I don't pay too much heed to anything Landers says, an absolute tool and grifter

100%. Not to be taken seriously in the slightest, couldn't lace the boots of many of today's Cork team mentally fragile as they are

[seafoid]

Who are going to win over the next 5 years ?

Cork
"Do Cork have 10 other players who were better than the ones who were part of the match day squad on Saturday? No. Five? Probably not.The problem for Cork now is that their best players have suffered so many big-game defeats at this stage that you wonder now if those wounds will ever heal. Robert Downey, for example, has lost All-Ireland finals at minor and under-20 level as well as three senior finals."

Kilkenny
"They just don't have the players right now," Keating says of Kilkenny. "When you look at the underage over the last few years, where are the standout players? They haven't been doing it at underage."
Kilkenny last won an All-Ireland minor title in 2014. They were under-20 champions in 2022 but that is their only All-Ireland triumph at that grade in the last 17 years."

Limerick
"The worrying part for Limerick is that, at age-grade level, their results have fallen off a cliff. Since they reached the 2022 under-20 All-Ireland final, they have played 15 games in that grade and won just three of them. This year, they have lost their first three games in the Munster round robin and look destined to finish bottom of the group".
 

Tipp, Galway and Clare have decent underage

[Torcrua]

Who are going to win over the next 5 years ?

Cork
"Do Cork have 10 other players who were better than the ones who were part of the match day squad on Saturday? No. Five? Probably not.The problem for Cork now is that their best players have suffered so many big-game defeats at this stage that you wonder now if those wounds will ever heal. Robert Downey, for example, has lost All-Ireland finals at minor and under-20 level as well as three senior finals."

Kilkenny
"They just don't have the players right now," Keating says of Kilkenny. "When you look at the underage over the last few years, where are the standout players? They haven't been doing it at underage."
Kilkenny last won an All-Ireland minor title in 2014. They were under-20 champions in 2022 but that is their only All-Ireland triumph at that grade in the last 17 years."

Limerick
"The worrying part for Limerick is that, at age-grade level, their results have fallen off a cliff. Since they reached the 2022 under-20 All-Ireland final, they have played 15 games in that grade and won just three of them. This year, they have lost their first three games in the Munster round robin and look destined to finish bottom of the group".
 

Tipp, Galway and Clare have decent underage

That's one way of looking at it, but underage success doesn't always translate into senior All-Irelands. Plenty of counties have won minor and U20 titles without producing dominant senior teams, while others have built great senior sides from relatively modest underage records.

Cork still have one of the strongest senior panels in the country despite the heartbreak, and Limerick have shown over the last decade that exceptional teams can emerge even without constant underage dominance. Kilkenny are never wise to write off either,they've made a habit of outperforming what people think their player pool should allow.

Tipp, Galway and Clare all have promising underage talent, but turning that into a senior team capable of winning Liam MacCarthy is a completely different challenge. The next five years will probably be decided as much by coaching, player development and keeping squads together as by underage medals.

[FirstToTheBall]

Wife is turning 40, never been to an AI final, whats the chances of getting 2 tickets?