Derek Lyng: 'We haven't been at our best but I always felt there was serious character there'
Senior Croke By Manager Dublin Lyng Park The In At Daly/sportsfile Character: Derek Kilkenny Kilkenny Leinster Final Between Match Cats Photo And Seb During Championship Hurling Gaa Dublin
Derek Lyng was delighted to see his Kilkenny team finish with a flourish a championship campaign that had its hairy moments.
A draw in Galway was no bad result giving their injury list at the time but dropping a point to Carlow in Netwatch Cullen Park would have been considered a disappointment.
Still, Kilkenny were able to conclude the campaign with three wins on the bounce, this final victory the best of them, and Lyng took plenty from that.
“People expect results and people expect different teams to win all the time and it doesn't work like that at all. If you're ever involved in it, you know a lot of hard work has to go into that and you still have to perform when it comes to it.
“We haven't been at our best but I always felt there was serious character there. I thought the way we saw out the last few minutes in Parnell Park and Nowlan Park was kind of a testament to the players that we have.
“Granted, it wasn't fluid hurling for the 70 minutes, but that's the game. No team is going to let you dominate for 70 minutes. When it's not going your way you just have to dig in and see that out for maybe 10 or 15 minutes and take your chances then when they come.
"Today was really good. And we're happy with how we've finished the Leinster campaign now.”
Lyng accepted Kilkenny were allowed to impose themselves against a Dublin team that appeared startled from early doors and nothing like the side that troubled The Cats in Donnycarney last month.
“We had a bit of time on the ball at times, definitely working it out we seemed to have a free man a lot of the time. I think we were very effective in doing that then as well, I thought we worked it out pretty well, created chances and we were very efficient.
“Look, going back to the game we had about three weeks, it was a lot tougher. It was in Parnell Park. We had a couple of weeks’ preparation now for this one. In fairness to Dublin, you have days like that as well and I think they are better than that. But I’m very happy with the way we performed.”
Dublin manager Micheál Donoghue conceded the 16-point loss was a step back for his group and they didn’t do themselves justice.
"They are a lot better. But they're a young team and they're on a journey. You have to take the good with the bad. We struggled to get into the game.
“Everything that was really positive for us over the last number of weeks, we didn't get to implement that. That's what we wanted to do but when it doesn't happen, it's disappointing. Against a top team like Kilkenny, if you don't do it then you're going to get punished."
Recovering from an All-Ireland quarter-final on Saturday week seems a tall order but Donoghue is backing his charges.
"There's great resilience there. Today was a hard lesson but you've just got to dust yourself down and go at it again."