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Derek Thomas Lyng (born 4 July 1978) is an Irish hurling manager and former player. He has been manager of the Kilkenny senior hurling team since 2022.
On 31 October 1999, Lyng was selected at right wing-back when Emeralds qualified to play Carrickshock GAA in the Kilkenny Junior Championship final. He ended the game on the losing side after a 1–06 to 0–08 defeat.
On 7 October 2001, Lyng lined out at midfield when Emeralds qualified for a second Kilkenny Junior Championship final in two seasons. He ended the game with a winners' medal following the 3–11 to 1–11 defeat of Windgap GAA.
After more than a decade in the Kilkenny Intermediate Championship, Emeralds qualified for the final on 20 October 2013. Lyng was selected at right wing-forward and was held scoreless in the 2–12 to 2–11 defeat by Rower-Inistioge.
On 5 May 2002, Lyng lined out at midfield when Kilkenny faced Cork GAA in the National League final. He scored a point from play and collected a winners' medal following the 2–15 to 2–14 victory. Lyng was again at midfield when Kilkenny faced Wexford in the Leinster final on 7 July 2002. He scored two points from play and won a second successive Leinster Championship - his first on the field of play - after a 0–19 to 0–17 victory. On 8 September 2002, Lyng lined out at midfield when Kilkenny qualified to play Clare GAA in the All-Ireland final. He ended the game with a first All-Ireland medal following the 2–20 to 0–19 victory. Lyng ended the season by winning a first All-Star award.
On 5 May 2003, Lyng won a second successive National League medal after lining out at midfield in Kilkenny's 5–14 to 5–13 defeat of Tipperary GAA in the final. On 6 July 2003, he won his third consecutive Leinster Championship medal after scoring three points from play in the 2–23 to 2–12 defeat of Wexford in the final. On 7 September 2003, Lyng again lined out at midfield when Kilkenny faced Cork in the All-Ireland final. He scored a point from play and collected a second successive winners' medal following the 1–14 to 1–11 victory. Lyng ended the season by winning a second All-Star award.
On 12 September 2004, Lyng made his third successive All-Ireland final appearance when he lined out at midfield against Cork. He scored a point from play, however, Kilkenny suffered a 0–17 to 0–09 defeat.
On 2 May 2005, Lyng won a third National League medal after scoring a point from midfield in Kilkenny's 3–20 to 0–15 defeat of Clare in the final. On 7 July 2005, he won a fourth Leinster Championship medal following Kilkenny's 0–22 to 1–16 defeat of Wexford in the final.
On 30 April 2006, Lyng won his fourth National League medal after lining out at midfield in Kilkenny's 3–11 to 0–14 victory over Limerick GAA. He won a fifth Leinster Championship medal on 2 July 2006 after scoring a point in a 1–23 to 1–12 defeat of Wexford in the final. On 3 September 2006, Lyng was again at midfield when Kilkenny qualified to play Cork in the All-Ireland final. He scored a point from play and claimed his third winners' medal after the 1–16 to 1–13 victory.
On 29 April 2007, lined out in his fifth National League final. He scored a point from midfield in the 0–20 to 0–18 defeat by Waterford GAA. Lyng was sidelined due to a groin injury when Kilkenny faced Wexford in the Leinster final on 1 July 2007. In spite of this, he claimed a sixth winners' medal as a non-playing substitute following the 2–24 to 1–12 victory. On 2 September 2007, Lyng was back on the starting fifteen and lined out at midfield in the All-Ireland final against Limerick. He ended the game with a fourth All-Ireland medal following the 2–19 to 1–15 victory.
On 6 July 2008, Lyng won a seventh Leinster Championship medal after scoring a point from midfield in the 5–21 to 0–17 defeat of Wexford. On 8 September 2008, he was again at midfield when Kilkenny faced Waterford in a first All-Ireland final since 1963. Lyng scored three points from play and claimed a fifth All-Ireland medal following a 3–30 to 1–13 victory.
Lyng collected a fifth National League medal on 3 May 2009 when he lined out as a substitute in Kilkenny's 2–26 to 4-17 extra-time defeat of Tipperary in the final. On 5 July 2009, he was back on the starting fifteen in his usual position of midfield when Kilkenny faced Dublin GAA in the Leinster final. Lyng ended the game with an eighth winners' medal following the 2–18 to 0–18 victory. He retained his position at midfield when Kilkenny faced Tipperary in the All-Ireland final on 6 September 2009. Lyng collected his sixth All-Ireland medal as Kilkenny became only the second team ever to win four All-Ireland titles in-a-row following the 2–22 to 0–23 victory.
Lyng failed to command a place on the starting fifteen during the 2010 Leinster Championship. In spite of this he won a ninth Leinster Championship medal as an unused substitute on 4 July 2010 following Kilkenny's 1–19 to 1–12 defeat of Galway. On 5 September 2010, he was selected on the substitutes' bench when Kilkenny faced Tipperary in the All-Ireland final. Lyng was introduced as a substitute for Cha Fitzpatrick at midfield and scored a point in the 4–17 to 1–18 defeat.
Lyng announced his retirement from inter-county hurling on 1 December 2010. In a statement he said: "There is never an ideal time to do something like this, but the time is right for me now. I had a great innings. I played with and against some of the greatest hurlers who ever lived and I picked up a few honours along the way."
After being selected for the team again in 2003, Lyng lined out in a second successive Railway Cup final on 8 November 2003. He scored a point from midfield and collected a second successive winners' medal following the 4–09 to 2–12 defeat of Connacht.
On 28 October 2006, Lyng was at midfield when he lined out in his third Railway Cup final. He was held scoreless throughout the game but collected a third winners' medal following the 1–23 to 0–17 defeat of Connacht.
Lyng won a second successive Leinster Championship as a selector on 5 July 2015 following Kilkenny's 1–25 to 2–15 defeat of Galway in the final. On 6 September 2015, he was again on the sideline for the All-Ireland final against Galway. Lyng ended the game with a second All-Ireland title as a selector following the 1–22 to 1–18 victory.
Lyng helped guide Kilkennny to a third successive Leinster Championship on 3 July 2016 following a 1–26 to 0–22 defeat of Galway in the final. On 4 September 2016, he saw his side suffer a 2–29 to 2–20 defeat by Tipperary in the All-Ireland final.
On 8 April 2018, Lyng secured his second National League title as a selector following Kilkenny's 2–23 to 2–17 defeat of Tipperary in the final. His side failed to retain the Leinster Championship for the fourth successive year following a 1–28 to 3–15 defeat by Galway in a final replay.
On 30 June 2019, Lyng was on the sideline when Kilkenny suffered a 1–23 to 0–23 defeat by Wexford in the Leinster final.
On 4 August 2022, Lyng was appointed manager of the Kilkenny senior hurling team.
David Herity endorsed Lyng's appointment as Brian Cody's successor, telling Off the Ball AM that Lyng would be a different type of manager: "Derek would be nothing like Brian... Derek was always seen as one of the lads in the dressing room Brian approached before a match and gave a dig to and said, 'right get these lads going'. He was that kind of lad, along with a Noel Hickey or Henry Shefflin. He would have ticked a few boxes in what Brian Cody would look for in a player and leader. When Derek came in as, he was slightly the yin to the yang. James McGarry and Brian Cody would be similar enough in personality, stand-offish. They wouldn't show a massive amount of emotion or talk to players in that sense. Derek Lyng would've been the more friendly type".
Lyng got his team off to a great start in 2022 winning the Leinster Under 20 Championship over Wexford by one point. Lyng, followed this with All Ireland success as Kilkenny won the Under 20 Championship with a win over Limerick for the first time since 2008.
| Kilkenny | 2001 | Division 1B | 0-01 |
| 2002 | Division 1A | 0-10 | |
| 2003 | 0-11 | ||
| 2004 | 0-04 | ||
| 2005 | Division 1 | 0-11 | |
| 2006 | 0-08 | ||
| 2007 | 1-13 | ||
| 2008 | 0-05 | ||
| 2009 | 0-04 | ||
| 2010 | 0-03 | ||
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