By John Harrington

Kilkenny hurling team manager, Brian Cody, has admitted that star forward Walter Walsh is a big doubt for this weekend’s All-Ireland SHC Quarter-Final with Limerick.

Walsh was forced off after just 18 minutes of yesterday’s Leinster SHC Final replay defeat to Galway with a groin strain.

“He pulled his groin very, very early,” said Cody. “Just after five minutes, he was labouring and he was in trouble. And he already had won a couple of great high balls and that.

“But look it a pulled groin now obviously he's under major pressure for next weekend. If he's available, he's available. If he's not, he's not. And that's the reality of it.”

Walsh would be a big loss for the clash with Limerick, but one plus for Kilkenny going into that game was the form shown by both Richie Hogan and Colin Fennelly when they came on for the second-half of yesterday’s match.

Cody says he’s confident both are now in good enough physical condition to play the whole match against Limerick if required.

“I think they're ready to play absolutely. It's a question of seeing how they recover after today and that.

“They're after putting in a huge amount of work to get to this level and we'll be looking at every possibility and every option.”

Both Hogan and Fennelly scored 1-1 each after coming on at the start of the second-half against Galway, and helped ignite a comeback that saw the Cats reduce a deficit that once stood at 12 points to just a single one.

“That's their quality, that’s what you'd expect,” said Cody. “I mean lots of players...I don't want to make the second half about one, two or three players. It was about everybody. We would have been blown away if the response hadn't been magnificent all over the field and I felt it was.”

Kilkenny’s comeback that saw them reduce a 12-point deficit to just one proved in vain as Galway finished the stronger to outscore them by eight points to two in the final 15 minutes of the match.

It was a very streaky performance by a young Kilkenny team in transition, and Cody admits they’re still learning on the job.

“Yeah, I think we've been learning it all the year really,” he said. “When we were in Nowlan Park against Clare in the League, we did the same thing really. We gave a huge lead to Clare and we came back into it.

“It happened obviously against Wexford in Nowlan Park as well, we came back and fought well. Today as well. We came back but we didn't win the game and we weren't able to just keep it sustained.

“But we have a certain amount of...obviously...a lot of change in our team and it's a question of gaining that experience.

“I'm absolutely certain of the character if you like or the spirit or the commitment or the never-say-die attitude that's there. When you have that, you can work on other things.”

The All-Ireland quarter-final against Limerick will be Kilkenny’s third match in as many weeks, and Cody admits that will place a difficult physical and mental demand on his players.

“It’s obviously tough going in the conditions we’re in,” he said. “It’s next weekend, last weekend and today is fairly exhausting for players.

“But the reality is we’re not going to start highlighting that because we’re just going to have to play the game.

“The lads are very fit, they’re in fantastic shape, they understand everything there is to understand about recovery. That’s what they’re focusing on right now, getting themselves ready. It will take a few days. It’s not a question of training now, it’s a question of recovering to go again.

“It’s going to be a huge battle. Limerick were being spoken of really by lots of people as the biggest danger to Galway. We know the quality they have, they’re a top team.

“But we’ve just got to take on the challenge. If we had won today, we’d be in the All-Ireand semi-final. If we win next week, we’ll be in the All-Ireland semi-final. So I don’t mind postponing for a week if that happens.”