The Training Matches In Nowlan Park

Sport
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I attend Kilkenny Senior training at Nowlan Park as id often do at this time of the Year,its 15 miles from my house to the ground but ya wouldnt feel the spin in,mesef and the brother arrived at around ten to Eight and found a parking space a little bit away from the ground,there was a big crowd there lat night with the nice evening,around 2000-2500 people id say myself,the old stand was nearly full and the seated uuncovered area alongside was almost full aswell.They start off with a lttle bit of pucking around followed by a few drills and a bit of a chat,they set out the teams a little differently every night but last night had the 1st choice forwards marking the 1st choice backs,tellingly Aidan Fogarty hurled corner forward marking John Dalton while Martin Comerford picked up a few different positions down at the subs end where he was in sparkling form,it still looks like Fogarty,who looked sharp himself seems to be in the driving seat to start ahead of Comerford against Cork.

The game itself was hurled at its usual fierce pace,reffed by Cody who i think blew two frees in the whole 55 minutes or so that they hurled last night,hed never blow for steps at all,you could take ten or eleven and get way with it,hes happy to let the hassling,tackling and hunting in packs to get the ball off a fella pass on peacefully,on matchdays Kilkenny players are rarely blown for overcarrying at the same time.Lineballs are non existant too,Dalton and Fogarty in particular had one tussle whilst lying on the perimeter fence last night before somebody emerged and hit the ball across field,these things almost go unnoticed they are so commonplace,its probably to do with a mixture of Cody not wanting to disrupt play and letting tight play develop where fellas will get serious hardship to win the ball,manys a fairly wild pull is let go during these proceedings aswell.Defences were very much on top last night with the full back line of Dalton,Hickey and Kavanagh totally dominating Eddie Brennan,Richie Power and Fogarty,FOgarty did get a good few scores from good ball in but Power and Eddie Brennan didnt get a look at it,Jackie Tyrell was watching but not togged out,the word was that he had a flu but Michael Kavanagh was excellent in his corner last night,its tough on Kavanagh,bar injury hes very unlikely to get a run this Year but looks to still have what it takes.Tommy Walsh and JJ werent overly killing themselves dominating but did a fair bit,Tennyson,who looked very lean and fit went off with an apparent knee injury late on,hopefully hes just minding himself.Derek Lyng cut a frustrated looking figure when coming off with a recurring ankle problem which he picked up at training last Week,he was visibly annoyed when going down the tunnel with Physio Robbie Lodge who is one of three Physios that were on duty last night.Fennelly and Cha Fitzpatrick were in flying form last night too,Cha is likely to start the semi final with RIce almost definitely out for the Cork game with a wrist injury.

All in all i saw nothing at Nowlan Park last night to suggest that Kilkenny will lose a game in this Years championship,everyone seems as focussed as usual and standards dont look to be slipping one bit,i left early last night so didnt watch the running after the match,that usually takes half an hour or so,everybody bar fellas feeling little strains etc participate in the running.

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Link would it be shirts and skins?

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That’s actually interesting cos it’s the one thing Kilkenny always get away with and they use it to massive advantage. I’ve especially noticed Shefflin and Brennan doing it especially to work goal chances for themselves. They burst past the shoulder of their man taking shitloads of steps and never get called for it. Be great craic if refs started blowing for this and fucked their little tactic up. Imagine Cody’s big red face about to explode if his lads kept being blown for frees out.

Otherwise you’re basically saying ‘they’re flying in training’ is that right link?

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Link - Do they always do their running at the end of the session?

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never realised that stick hurlers trained as well as played games- they are taking their hobby very seriously

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In kilkenny it’s considered an honour to have Brian Cody rape your first born son. That’s how seriously they take it.

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Great stuff Link :clap: :clap:

Any schedule of sessions for next week?

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:popcorn:

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Is rape of sibblings not taken seriously in Tipperary?

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That’s fair sad. Not only ye have nothing else but hurling going for ye up there, you’re telling me 2500 people attend the county training sessions? People of KK seriously need to get a life before life passes them by.

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Not sure what ya mean MBB,last night one team was togged in the mid green avonmore emblazed training jersey and the other team was in the navy Avonmore emblazed training jersey,up until last Year fellas used to wear all sorts of jersies but now its training kits across the board.

Kev,they’d usually do a good bit of running before the training game involving ballwork and drills and do a blast of running after te game but they change things around regularly eneogh during the Year,the training myself and everyone else who goes to see them would love to be at is the ones they hold on the Weekends away,they stayed in the Seafield Hotel in GOrey last Weekend and trained someplace out in the middle of nowhere,the real work would be going on at those ones.

THey train next at 4pm on Saturday,not sure about next Week,ill keep you posted,you could spend an hour and a half doing worse things than going for a look,its amazing to see the crowds that attend alone,i was there one evening a couple of Weeks before last Years AIF when around 7000 people were at training,in the same Week i called into Semple Stadium passing by for a quick look and was amazed to find that there were only about 50 people thereit must be a Kilkenny thing.

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4pm of a Saturday is a grand time to go training, they’ll all be out on the lash for the night then by half 6 or so.

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[quote=“THE LINK WALSH, post: 497743”]
Not sure what ya mean MBB,last night one team was togged in the mid green avonmore emblazed training jersey and the other team was in the navy Avonmore emblazed training jersey,up until last Year fellas used to wear all sorts of jersies but now its training kits across the board.[/quote]

Good to hear, wouldnt like to picture some of those fellas stripped to the chest. Woudlnt reflect well if 2500 were going into watch Tommy Walsh barechested.

What sort of input would Mick Dempsey have during training?

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:lol:

Link - Thanks. I guessed they’d mix it up alright, too much running at the end of training can lead to injuries. KK don’t seem to get anything over the normal, so thats why i was curious, were they defying all normal sport science research.

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Link, I heard there’s a troop of prostitutes from Goresbridge operating out of the female toilets in Nowlan Park during these training sessions. Any truth in this?

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I was passing Fraher field one evening around 10 days before the 2008 AIF and noticed a huge crowd of around 3 or 4 thousand people on the road outside,i parked up and went to have a look,turned out that training was behind closed doors but they would be letting in the supporters near the end,when it was getting dark a few self important CO Board fellas arrived and opened the gates just in time for the Waterford hurling people to get a glimpse of the players walking off the pitch,it was poor treatment of hard core hurling followers.

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Dempseys role at training mostly involves watching,whispering with Cody and Martin Fogarty about things and standing around on the field,hes very well thought of in Kilkenny hurling circles though and must have a bit to offer or he wouldnt be there,other than that knob of a Rackard Cody this set up doesnt do passangers.

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Link, do you drive around the country looking out for inter-county training sessions during the summer?

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What’s the story with Rackard Cody, Link?

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I’d heard Mick takes a lot of the physical training. Fair going for a man who didnt know one end of a hurley from the other during his time in Laois.