Kilkenny will face Offaly in the quarter-final of the Leinster U20 Hurling Championship in nine days’ time following their narrow defeat to Galway.
The Cats battled hard in Portlaoise but came up just short on a 2–18 to 1–19 scoreline, as Galway topped the group to secure a semi-final place.
Kilkenny manager Henry Shefflin says there is plenty for his side to take from the performance as they turn their attention to knockout hurling.
“Look, we’ll watch a bit of video — there’s loads of learnings. We’ve had those the last two days and I must say the guys are implementing and changing some of that stuff. This grade is very much about developing and improving players and I can see that graph improving.
But as I said earlier in the season, now is the stage where it’s knockout hurling. We’re playing in 10 days’ time and we’ll have to improve again if we want to win that game against Offaly.”
Meanwhile, Kilkenny and Galway will meet again this Saturday in the Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Hurling Championship.
Throw-in is at 1pm in UPMC Nowlan Park, with live coverage on KCLR Plus, in association with Doheny’s School of Motoring.
