Mossy Keoghan adding clinical finishing to impressive repertoire

For Tullaroan and Kilkenny hurling star Mossy Keoghan, life is good at the moment.

Games coming thick and fast, 2-12 from play in four outings, one of the best hurlers so far in this year's Allianz League, and his side just two points off the top of the table ahead of Tipperary’s visit to Nowlan Park this Sunday.

"Just the competitiveness in Division 1A," he says of the top tier. "Every week there is an unreal match to look forward to. The games are more or less week on week and it’s very enjoyable."

Keoghan, whose father Liam was a defensive linchpin for the Cats during the 1990s, has been on the Kilkenny senior panel since 2017.

He came onto the scene after successful stints with St Kieran’s College and a spell playing minor, under-21 and intermediate for his county.

He was a fine player from the start and showed that in the 2018 Allianz League final when Paudie Maher was dispatched to look after him.

Back then he was known for work rate and a reluctance to take a backward step.

"Well, when I came onto the panel first, I was very raw," he said. "You do have downs and ups but you are learning from mistakes as you go along.

"It is always a long year and there are so many matches that you simply have to get into the next one as fast as you can.

"If you did have a bad week, more than likely you would have another one the following week or two weeks max.

"But looking back, physicality was definitely a huge thing that I needed to work upon when I came in. We had Colin Fennelly, TJ Reid and Walter Walsh, and to try and get up to physical stakes was huge firstly.

"Come the summer, then it was the speed of everything, and coming near the championship it was trying to make no mistakes. In inter-county hurling there are very high standards.