Tommy Walsh believes the faith Brian Cody has shown in the newer members of his Kilkenny side bodes well for the Cats’ future.
Kilkenny exited the championship following a defeat to Limerick at the quarter-final stages but claimed a credible league title after beating Tipperary in the spring.
Cody has gone three years without an All-Ireland title, a first since taking over in 1999, but Walsh insists Cody has a vision for his current crop of youngsters.
“His main thing is that he loves the game and he has serious belief in Kilkenny hurlers,” Walsh told The Hurling Show on Off The Ball.
“We’re not in a duel county where we’re picking up a hurl every second week. These guys are living with their hurls from the ages of three and four, since they could go to games with their fathers.
“There are usually club games every weekend and fathers and mothers are bringing their kids down as early as they can to matches and to get them out of the house.
“And with that they’re hurling every day. You might train once a week or twice a week as a young fella – that’s an hour. But they’d probably spend another hour or two every single day being at matches and messing around at home.
“Brian Cody has serious belief in Kilkenny players and that’s where we’ve seen the spirit of them this year. It’s easy when you have all the winners’ medals in your back pocket to back it up with confidence.
“But these are young guys who have been shown massive faith by their management and public. The Kilkenny public have massive faith in these guys as well and I think we saw that against both Galway and Limerick when they really could have pounced and drove it home and won by a lot more.
“They were able to be there until the very end and could have snatched victories against either team.”
James Hopper
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