Derek Lyng full of praise for Kilkenny's 'huge spirit' as they defend Leinster title

Derek Lyng praised his side's spirit as they snatched a late victory over Galway at Croke Park to land Leinster title number 75.

The Tribesmen looked like they had done enough to withstand a couple of purple patches for the Cats when they established a two-point lead deep into second-half stoppage time.

But they failed to clear the ball on a number of occasions before Padraic Mannion's hack away with the boot saw the ball land in Cillian Buckley's hand.

The Dicksboro man made no mistake, rounding a defender before smashing the ball into the right corner.

A fourth provincial title on the spin sends Kilkenny into the semi-final, and means they can't meet defending champions Limerick until the All-Ireland final.

"We made it a bit hard on ourselves, the way we did it," Lyng said on RTÉ's Sunday Game afterwards.

"Huge spirit from the team and we kept going. I'm just delighted for them today, I thought their effort was outstanding.

"We were on top in the second half and had a few chances that we didn't finish off the game. They're a quality team, got back into it and it looked like we were going to be on the wrong end of it.

"You couldn't scrip it any better, the way we won it. The game was over, we got the goal. The ball was in the corner there for 30 seconds and it looked as though the game was going to fizzle out and that was going to be it

"They just kept plugging away, got the ball across and fair play to Cillian - I'm delighted for him.

"I'm most pleased about the fact that they never gave up. Ok, we've been inconsistent at times, but we got to a league final - didn't perform - got to a Leinster final and won.

"We're going to improve and we're going to look forward to the next game now."

'You couldn't script a better way to win it'