Paddy Deegan: 'Don't take criticism from people you wouldn't ask for advice'
Paddy Deegan at St. Vincent’s GAA club in Dublin at Centra’s launch of the 2026 Senior Hurling Championship and the Centra GAA Sharpshooter Competition. Winners will receive a €1,000 prize for their local GAA club plus the opportunity for their team to play at the 2026 Hurling for Cancer Research Charity Match later this year.
By John Harrington
The Kilkenny hurlers will surely feel like they have a point to prove when they play Galway in the first round of the Leinster SHC on Saturday in Pearse Stadium.
When the teams met in the League on March 7 Galway romped to a 0-35 to 0-17 win over the Cats.
It was the fifth biggest defeat that the Kilkenny senior hurlers have suffered in their history, and the manner in which they were outworked as well as out-hurled was most un-Kilkenny like.
The criticism that followed the loss was significant, and Kilkenny defender Paddy Deegan admits it was difficult to ignore.
“I think after a performance like that it's important for teams to kind of really stick together,” says Deegan.
“I know it's hard to do in kind of today's society, but it's important to kind of block out that noise as much as possible, or limit it.
“You spoke about the criticism...I always say don't take criticism from people you wouldn't ask for advice from. And I think that's really, really important in situations like that because you have a lot of young lads in and around the squad.
“When criticism is coming from all angles after a performance like that we know as players and as management that we didn't perform, and it wasn't up to the standard.
“I think then when you have it coming from all angles then it can be hard on younger lads particularly who probably weren't exposed to it for the last number of years.
“So it's just really important to kind of block it out as much as possible. But, like I said, with social media and everything like that, it is hard at times.”
The criticism that followed the loss to Galway wasn’t just external, with team manager Derek Lyng declaring afterwards the level of Kilkenny’s performance was “unacceptable”.
“The comments he made after the match, he was 100 per cent correct,” says Deegan.
“That should not happen. It is not good enough and we knew that as players. Derek was disappointed after the game but he knew what he needed to work on.
“We did as well. That was the most important thing. Instead of being overly negative, we were positive towards getting us better rather than putting us down.
“I think that day against Galway, I suppose the effort and the work rate just wasn't up to the standard that we're used to. And I think that's probably one of the main reasons why we performed so poorly.
“If you're a fraction off even in terms of work rate or anything like that, you're under pressure straight away. The way teams are so dialled in these days, you just have to be on the ball every day you go out.”
Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng during the Allianz Hurling League Division 1A match between Galway and Kilkenny at Pearse Stadium in Galway. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
Kilkenny responded to that defeat against Galway with a much better performance in the final round of the League against Tipperary when they drew a game they could just as easily have won.
How important was it to the group to restore some pride in the manner that they did?
“Yeah, it was really important. Look, the game against Galway was a really poor performance And I think everybody knew that. But, yeah, the performance against Tipp was a good kind of reaction to it.
“We could have won it in the end and I know we got the point but I thought we performed fairly well throughout the game and I think it was really important.
“We still have a lot to build on that as well and we have been over the last couple of weeks, we've been doing a good bit of training. So I think we've made good improvements there in the lead-up to the championship.”
A large and vocal Kilkenny support travelled to that match against Tipperary in Semple Stadium and made plenty of noise which reassured Deegan the players still have their backing.
“Yeah, I think they're still fully behind us,” he says. “Fans that are genuinely supporting us and are real hurling people, I think they're still behind us.
“They were probably as disappointed as us just with the performance but I think they saw the reaction against Tipp and they saw the difference in terms of the work rate and the effort and everything that went into it.”
The draw with Tipperary was Kilkenny’s best performance of the League, and it’s surely no coincidence that it was also the only game that TJ Reid started during the campaign.
He was outstanding on the night, scoring 1-4 from play and giving the Kilkenny attack a hugely effective focal point that they’d lacked in the previous five matches.
TJ Reid of Kilkenny meets supporters after the Allianz Hurling League Division 1A match between Tipperary and Kilkenny at FBD Semple Stadium in Thurles, Tipperary. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile.
Reid will turn 39 later this year, but he’s clearly still a hugely important player for Kilkenny.
“He was excellent the last day out,” says Deegan. “He just shows his class. He's hurling at a standard, even with the club last year, he's hurling at a standard that it's hard to believe.
“He's just unbelievable, to be fair to him. A lot of people are probably saying he's slowing down because of his age. But I actually think he's getting faster, to be honest, the way he's moving. He just looks after himself incredibly well.
“Lads ask him for advice, he's no problem. I'd be still picking his brains on things as well. He's great to have around. He's a great leader. He's great to have around the dressing him.
“To be fair, he brings an incredible amount of energy to the thing. When he's there, there's very few times when the ball goes into him, his man is coming out with it.
“He doesn't mind what ball goes into him, high or low, he just wants to be around the ball. It gives us a massive lift, having him there.”
When Kilkenny won the 2015 All-Ireland title it was their 11th in a period of 15 years and at that time it would have be unthinkable they’d fail to win any in the following 11 years.
In that period they’ve reached eight All-Ireland semi-finals and four finals so they’ve remained a consistent force, but Deegan doesn’t take any pride in that achievement.
“I wouldn’t say we take pride,” he says. “When we go out every year the aim is to win an All-Ireland and when you are not doing that and you are only reaching semi-finals, you don’t take pride in that.
“I don’t think it is something you would take pride in. You only do that when you are winning All-Irelands. And we have not done that in 11 years. It is there and is going to be there until we actually get over the line and that is the focus going forward.”
