Former Galway star Joe Canning has questioned Derek Lyng’s decision to drop some of Kilkenny’s stars after the Cats fell to their heaviest defeat since 1957 at the weekend.

The Leinster champions lost out to Galway on a 0-35 to 0-17 scoreline last Saturday evening, marking their third defeat of the Division 1A campaign as they now sit in the relegation zone with Offaly with one round to go.

Speaking on Allianz League Sunday, Canning said he isn’t sure if it’s in Kilkenny’s DNA to play the short passing game.

“There were some changes this year, the spine of their backs, (Aidan) Tallis in goals,” said the 2017 All-Ireland winner.

“They're not doing anything wrong, but going from a puck of a ball from an All-Ireland final last year to changing your goalie, to changing your centre back, to then an enforced change at full-back with Mikey Carey, who looks like he picked up maybe a hamstring injury and could be out now. Who are they going to put full-back now?

'Is it in their DNA to play this short-passing game?' - @JoeyCan88 on what may be curtailing Kilkenny's threat #rtegaa #allianzhurlingleague
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— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) March 8, 2026

“There's probably a lot of head-scratching for Derek Lyng going home on the bus last night to wonder 'is this the way we want to go?'

“They're saying in Kilkenny that maybe Tallis is in goals for short puck-outs and that possession-based game. Is that what Niall Corcoran and Eddie Brennan are after bringing in? I'm not too sure just from the outside.

“Do they go back a bit to a more direct route? Richie Reid seems to have fallen out of favour a little bit, he's very direct in his game as well. I know Henry [Shefflin] was questioning that a couple of weeks ago on the show.

“There are some questions. It's not that they're doing anything wrong, but is it in their DNA to play this short passing game? I'm not too sure.”

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