JJ Delaney is confident that the next long-term Kilkenny full back - be it Paul Murphy or Joey Holden - will prove a worthy successor.

Seven-times All Star Delaney surprisingly vacated the famous Cats' No.3 shirt when he announced his intercounty retirement in December but he believes Brian Cody can unearth a formidable replacement.

Murphy was at full back for the league games against Cork and Dublin, while Holden has impressed for Ballyhale Shamrocks in the No.3 jersey, helping them reach another All-Ireland club championship final.

"No, no fear whatsoever," Delaney notes in The Irish Examiner. "Even in the last couple of years you've seen the nature of the role changing, a lot of teams are going with two-man full-forward lines now.

"If it works like that, Paul will have no problems. The more space that's there, the faster he is. He's very, very fast and he's able to cover ground and he attacks the ball very well. So if teams do that, it will suit him down to the ground.

"Yeah, Joey's there so there is options which is the big thing. It's a tricky question, who will play there. The thing with Kilkenny is, there's always someone who will step up to the mark.

"Paul has done nothing wrong in the last couple of games. It is a learning curve to be fair but you can only learn by being in there and if you do make a mistake, make sure it doesn't happen again.

"I've no doubt that if Paul ends up there, he's been a star corner back for the last four or five years, so there's no reason he can't do it at full back."

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