Kilkenny goalkeeper Eoin Murphy labelled his county’s Allianz Hurling League Division 1 title as a ‘stepping stone’ for greater things.
The Cats saw off rivals Tipperary at Nowlan Park to secure their 18th league title after recovering from a poor start to the season which saw them pointless after the opening two rounds.
But Murphy has his eyes on bigger prizes as his side prepare the upcoming Leinster Championship.
“It’s great and you can see what it means to the crowd and the young kids that are out here,” Murphy told OTB’s Oisin Langan.
“And hopefully they’ll be the next crop of players coming up as well. We set out at the start of the year to give a bit of experience to a lot of the newer members to the panel and they stood up brilliantly today.
“You see the likes of Mossy Keoghan, John Donnelly has been brilliant, Richie Leahy has been great as well.
“I think our stepping stone was our half-back line. Conor Delaney and Enda Morrissey are two newcomers there as well.
“It’s all about getting games for them, the Championship pace – which it was today – but we just see it as a stepping stone for the Leinster Championship coming up in a couple of weeks, so we’ll prepare for that.
“You have to be physically able for the game. Division 1A is so competitive and you have to have the physical body for it as well as a bit of experience.
“Last year we had a lot of younger players as well but we didn’t perform up to the standards that we set. There was a lot of pressure on them but they all performed, so we’re delighted.”
Written by James Hopper
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