KILKENNY MANAGER BRIAN Cody has made seven changes to his side for Sunday’s Division 1A relegation play-off against Clare at Nowlan Park.
The sides met in a rehearsal last weekend with The Cats edging a high-scoring contest by a single point but Cody has decided to shuffle his pack for the game which will decide who will drop down to Division 1B.
Lester Ryan, Cillian Buckley and the in-form Richie Hogan all return after the trio missed the round 5 clash with Davy Fitzgerald’s side.
Tomás Keogh, Willie Phelan, Brian Kennedy, Kevin Kelly and Mark Kelly all drop to the subs bench while Jackie Tyrrell misses out through injury and John Power is unavaliable due to illness.
Captain Joey Holden does return, however.
Kilkenny:
1. Eoin Murphy
2. Shane Prendergast
3. Paul Murphy
4. Joey Holden
5. Lester Ryan
6. Kieran Joyce
7. Cillian Buckley
8. Joe Lyng
9. Michael Fennelly
10. Walter Walsh
11. TJ Reid
12. Mathew Ruth
13. Jonjo Farrell
14. Colin Fennelly
15. Richie Hogan
Subs
16. Richie Reid
17. Robert Lennon
18. Willie Phelan
19. Tomas Keogh
20. Conor O Shea
21. Brian Kennedy
22. Kevin Kelly
23. Mark Kelly
24. Keith Hogan
25. Ger Aylward.
This is a great opportunity to try something different and not have the usual opposition of the old school diehards who dont want change.
The idea of an open knockout championship sounds great I think and would give teams a shot of a dream run. If I’m from Kildare or Fermanagh, I would be much more motivated for championship as you go from 7 games (minimum) to an All Ireland final to 4 games..
@Lad: until those old school diehards stop getting voted onto county/provincial boards, provincial championships are here to stay.
@Lad: Would that not bring us back to why the qualifier system was introduced. 16 teams would only get 1 game. I’d be in favour of a champions league style group format, ran for 2 years, and then split into 2 separate championships, retaining that format. Have a system for promotion and relegation. It’s a lot of games for players though, which may make it a hard sell.
Open draw, try it once. Can u imagine if Kerry got Dublin in killarney in football or tipp v kilkenny in thurles..in first round ties..the buzz would be unique.
@jay bernard: would they allow supporters at the match?
Look, it’s best to just forget about the league, and I’m not just saying that because we may be relegated (‘ ‘) ….
@Logan Shepherd: “May”
@Logan Shepherd: please god forget about the league
@my name: Ah .. if it was May, I’d say go ahead and finish it, but it’s nearly the end of June :-)
Always thought brollys idea of 8 groups of 4 teams with top two play knockout for A all Ireland bottom two play in b all Ireland. Everyone gets 4 games and everyone has chance for a all Ireland. Entails for far more excitement
Yeah, what most of us have wanted for years… provincial championship in football is a joke, Ulster aside. You can’t keep the current provincial set up based on one province alone