From Kilkenny’s performance in the league to their preparations ahead of Championship, former Kilkenny hurler Aiden “Taggy” Fogarty gave us an insight into the intensity of representing your county.
Speaking to the KCLR Hurling Podcast, the former Kilkenny hurler discussed the team’s preparations, shedding light on the mental and physical demands of transitioning from the league to the championship.
“There’s a significant difference between league and championship in terms of preparation and in terms of your own body language in training. Everything is changed and everything is heightened to a different level”.
Taggy emphasized the importance of each player taking personal responsibility for their preparation, ensuring they are in the best physical and mental shape possible.
“Really you have to look at yourself first. Get yourself in prime condition and keep yourself injury-free if at all possible. Everything you can do and more and try to find that extra edge in terms of how am I going to improve myself to try get on this team”.
As part of their championship preparations, the Kilkenny team spent time in Portugal for a training camp, something that Taggy Fogarty believes is invaluable in helping the team work better together.
“It’s just that professional environment, I think is just brilliant for the guys and I think that kind of bonding and that sense of something big is coming and we’re doing as much as we can in this time frame to get it done”.
Fogarty also highlighted the importance of team meetings during these training camps, where players and management come together to share ideas and tactics to help them improve going forward.
“You’re sitting at a table, you nominate a guy to be a speaker for you, you answer your questions and then you feedback to the group. What I found very good about it was people that generally mightn’t talk or might be quiet might have something so valuable to add to the group and this environment just drags it out of you”
Reflecting on the Kilkenny team’s recent league campaign, Fogarty pointed to their victory over Limerick as a key moment in building confidence and momentum heading into the Leinster Championship.
“I think the last win of the league against Limerick was a huge boost for them. I think they were slightly under pressure with the Tipp performance the week before. That was the big win for them, for the dressing room alone and for the team in general”.
Looking ahead to the championship, Taggy acknowledged the strength of Kilkenny’s starting lineup but also pointed out a potential concern regarding the depth of the squad.
“Being realistic, if we have our best 15 on the pitch it’s still a very good Kilkenny team and we’ll have a very experienced Kilkenny team. I think maybe the slight worry would be possibly the experience of the bench and whether the guys have the consistency to come off and make a difference”.
Despite this, Taggy is confident that Kilkenny will be a formidable force in this year’s Championship, with their dominance in Leinster likely to take them far.
“From anybody outside the sport or in Kilkenny are talking hurling, you’d be thinking Kilkenny will be in the Leinster final and if they’re in the Leinster final you’d be thinking they’re going to be very hard to beat”.
Kilkenny will face Galway in the first round of the Leinster Championship at home in UPMC Park on April 19.
Article by Hannah Sharpe
For more analysis, you can listen to Aidan Taggy Fogarty on the KCLR Hurling Podcast, available now wherever you get your podcasts.
