Westmeath advance as Shield beckons for Lyng & Co
BY NIALL SHERRY, SPORTS EDITOR
SPORTSEDITOR@KILKENNYOBSERVER.IE
Dioralyte Walsh Cup & Shield 2026
Following some farcical shenanigans last weekend, Kilkenny will get their intercounty preseason underway this Sunday when they face-off against the winners of last night’s clash between Laois and Carlow in the Dioralyte Walsh Shield.
The Cats Walsh Cup campaign saw them exit the competition without pucking a ball, as their clash with Westmeath fell victim to the much-anticipated wintery conditions that authorities had plenty of notice of. Originally, the venue selected for the fixture was Breedon Kevin Molloy Park, but the designated venue was deemed unplayable due to the prevailing weather conditions following a pitch inspection which took place around 12 noon.
The ‘back-up’ venue nominated by the Lake County was St Loman’s 3G pitch at Dovida Lakepoint Park, and that is where the teams and supporters headed for once the announcement was made about The Downs venue. The game was then called off minutes before throw-in, much to the disappointment of everyone, but not everyone appeared to be singing from the same hymn sheet.
Westmeath GAA took to social media and claimed that Kilkenny had forfeited the fixture, but later, Leinster GAA released a statement confirming that ‘following a further pitch inspection, today’s Dioralyte Walsh Cup game between Westmeath and Kilkenny has also been deemed unplayable, and as per competition regulation, with re-fixtures not possible, coin tosses were held and determined that Offaly, Galway and Westmeath will advance in the Walsh Cup. While Antrim, Kildare and Kilkenny will now enter the Walsh Shield competition’.
Before hopping on the bus back to Noreside, Derek Lyng spoke to KCLR’s Oisin Langan about the debacle and the reasoning behind the game being called off.
““The 3G there is quite bare, it’s not great for an inter-county match. It’s fine, you could do a few drills there but speaking to our medical team and taking the advice on board, number one is player safety.
“These lads are after putting in a huge effort and I didn’t want to be going home here today with a couple of injuries and lads losing out in the next couple of months after all that.”
“I’m hugely disappointed for the players, they were hugely looking forward to today, as I was and everyone involved was, but we had to make that decision and player safety is number one.”
By all accounts, the 3G surface at St Loman’s wasn’t in the best of shape, and both managers along with referee Rory Hanley walked over and inspected the grass pitch at the Mullingar venue, which was deemed playable, but unavailable by the club.
The Emeralds clubman added:
“Kevin [O’Brien], the Westmeath manager, and I went out to the (grass) pitch there and inspected that just to see if that was playable, and we deemed that much safer.
“I had a good discussion with the referee, he completely agrees and the decision has been made. We were all happy to go on the pitch but seemingly the club decided that the pitch wasn’t going to be made available, for what reason I don’t know. That was their call; we were willing to play it on it.”
The outcome of the situation became clear later last Sunday evening, when Leinster GAA confirmed the coin-toss results. The Kilkenny panel will be keen to see action this weekend, and the challenge of Laois or Carlow will provide a stiff test to Lyng’s experimental squad.
I’d imagine that subject to availability, the manager will probably give the named XV for the Westmeath game the run-out this Sunday. As expected, Lisdowney’s Aidan Tallis was given the keeper’s jersey, with Thomastown’s Diarmuid Galway named as his understudy on the bench.
Many Cats supporters will hope to see Ivan Bolger on the edge of the square. The Graignamanagh player is highly rated and seen by many as one of the natural heirs to Huw Lawlor’s full back throne. Indeed, former All-Ireland winner Walter Walsh name checked the Kilkenny U20 star as a possible deputy for the travelling Lawlor, when he spoke with the Irish Examiner last November.
Shamrocks Ballyhale’s Darragh Corcoran was listed as team captain at centre back, with Clara’s David Barcoe and the more experienced Shane Murphy of Glenmore flanking the skipper. The engine room featured Killian Doyle and Cathal Beirne, the latter one of the rising stars down at Pairc na Ratha. Emeralds player Doyle has been in and around the senior setup for the past couple of seasons, and he will be keen to show his talent on Sunday.
The half forward line looks to be a skillful and pacey one with the trio of Luke Connellan, Liam Moore and Castlecomer’s Michael Brennan. There is definitely the need to unearth a couple more scoring forwards to compliment the likes of TJ, Eoin Cody and Mossy Keoghan. With Billy Ryan absent, there will be at least one shirt up for grabs ahead of Leinster Championship time.
Further forward, Tullogher Rosbercon’s Marty Murphy is likely to get minutes, and he is a real livewire, possessing a goal threat also. Last weekends ‘non-event’ prevented the management team from running their eye over the panel named, so they will be keen to secure a victory over whoever they face on Sunday to provide another runout in the shield final next weekend.
As mentioned previously, I’d love to see Danesfort’s Des Dunne, Daire O’Neill and Anthony Ireland Wall get some minutes in the stripes of Kilkenny.
Don’t forget, we are only a couple of weeks off the start of the National Hurling League with Offaly due into town on 25th January, and that will be the focus for Derek Lyng and co. Take two – Ádh mór to our senior hurlers as they (hopefully) get up and running on Sunday.
• On the club front, Shamrocks Ballyhale are on the hunt for a new manager, following the news that Henry Shefflin has stepped down from the role with his beloved club. The legendary Kilkenny forward, who was announced as the county’s new U20 manager last September, is also believed to be in the process of starting a new business, so something has had to give. Ten-time Liam MacCarthy winner Shefflin ended his second spell in the hotseat at Páirc na Seamróg having guided the South Kilkenny team to a first county title since 2022, having previously guided Shamrocks to All-Ireland glory in 2019 and 2020 during his first stint as manager. We wish Henry all the best with the U20’s for the season ahead.
