Kilkenny boss Derek Lyng hopes to be able to call on TJ Reid and Adrian Mullen for the Allianz Hurling League final against Limerick.
Neither has played for the county this year as they recover from injuries picked up over the course of Ballyhale Shamrocks’ successful All-Ireland club campaign, which concluded in January.
The two-week window between Sunday’s semi-final win over Cork and the decider against Limerick, set to be fixed for April 9, gives them some chance of returning to competitive action before the Championship.
Lyng said: “They've been working really hard away from it and they're getting closer to being ready for action so we'll see how they are in the next couple of weeks.
“We want a competitive squad, a lot of lads put their hands up again [against Cork] and that's what we asked them to do, we said to grab the jersey when you have it and we're seeing that competition coming through with the lads coming back and that's exactly where we want to be.”
Reid’s younger brother Richie has been recovering from the effects of concussion which has ruled him out of the last two games against Waterford and Cork.
“It was serious enough to keep him out until now,” Lyng explained. “We thought he was feeling a bit better but, again, just a few symptoms during the week so we weren’t taking any chances with him.
“We just have to keep an eye on him but, at the minute, he’s feeling a little bit better than he was during the week so hopefully he’ll be back in the reckoning as well, yeah.”
Lyng added that Billy Ryan and Eoin Cody’s injuries are “nothing too serious”.
“Whether two weeks’ time might be a little bit tight, I’m not sure yet, we’ll have to assess them but other than that we’re only looking at two or three weeks,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lyng welcomed the return of Richie Hogan to the Kilkenny starting line-up on Sunday for the first time since the 2020 All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Waterford.
“Richie’s worked really hard. He was close to being back a few weeks ago and a couple of things went against him but now he’s back, he showed what he’s about and there’s no question, super attitude about Richie all year and it’s great to see him back out there.”
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