BRIAN CODY HAS confirmed that Kilkenny must plan without their two-time All-Star winning goalkeeper Eoin Murphy for the Leinster championship.

Murphy injured his knee in a recent game with his club Glenmore and it has been confirmed that he has fractured a bone.

The news robs Kilkenny of a key performer with experienced netminder Murphy having won All-Star awards in 2016 and 2018 while he has four All-Ireland senior medals to his credit.

And it’s part of a difficult injury situation for Cody as he gets his Kilkenny squad set for their opening Leinster round-robin game against Dublin on Saturday 11 May.

“Eoin Murphy, Cillian Buckley, James Maher, Conor Delaney, Rob Lennon, are all definitely out,” outlined Cody.

“Richie Hogan has been struggling with an injury all along. He is in training now. So, that’s our situation.

“It’s a bad run to get. Eoin and Conor got them playing club matches, James got it training with the club. It’s just the situation we find ourselves in.

“It’s wait and see with him (Eoin Murphy). Seven, eight weeks (unavailable). Leinster is out.

“He had a great year last year and before last year too. He’s a top goalkeeper. He’s not playing so we have two other goalkeepers now, Darren Brennan and Richie Reid, and we’d have a lot of confidence in them.

“Not a hope for week two, for any of them. Cillian has been out for a long time. He’s back. Not hurling training, just running. We don’t have a timeframe for him.

“He’s such a focused fella. He’s absolutely intent on getting back. When? Who knows?

“It’s hard to say with Richie. He’s had very interrupted preparation. He’s a fella who looks after himself well, in very good shape, between gym and on the pitch.

“Obviously, it has been very interrupted for him, even last year as well.”

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