Daunting trip to Nowlan Park for U20 hurlers
by Kevin Egan
Expectations weren’t tremendously high about this year’s U-20 hurlers before a ball was pucked in championship and the drubbing that Dublin dished out in Glenisk O’Connor Park last time out has certainly quelled what little optimism there was about the prospect of Leo O’Connor’s side going deep into the championship.
Kilkenny invested deeply in this panel, putting Henry Shefflin at the helm and Brian Hogan on his coaching ticket. Indifferent displays against Wexford and Kildare were cause for hesitation, but they went a lot closer to beating a ridiculously star-studded Galway side than expected. It would be no surprise if that’s as close as anyone gets to Galway at any stage this year, given that the Tribesmen have their Leinster final place all but locked down already and will be able to allow Jason Rabbitte and Aaron Niland completely focus on ending their four-year long hoodoo in this competition, before switching back to a primarily senior focus at the business end of things.
From Offaly’s perspective, on the outside there will be those who will say that the championship quarter-final in Nowlan Park on Monday is a free hit and a chance to win back some pride after the anaemic showing against the Dubs.
Within the panel, the bar could and should be set that bit higher. Most of the players in this group will still remember taking on Kilkenny at minor level in the Faithful Fields three years ago and producing a very competitive display on that occasion, really testing the Cats in a very enjoyable fixture.
Three very effective players - Robert Carney, Fionn Carney and Cillian Bourke – have chosen to make oval ball sports their first choice since then and compensating for the loss of their power and pace isn’t easy.
Nonetheless, that evolution of a group as they move towards adulthood is a simple fact of life and sport. Kilkenny will be a different team too, without Conor Doyle (goalscorer on that day in Kilcormac) and centre back Mikey Stynes, who was hugely influential with four points.
Here in Offaly, others have emerged and stepped up. Andrew Hogan and Seán Óg Foley have gone very well in the backs and while Odhran Fletcher has a bit of physical development ahead of him – he would never be mistaken for Cillian Bourke in a lineup - the Kilcormac-Killoughey attacker is a prolific scorer with a world of potential.
For the players and the management team alike, Monday’s game will tell a lot about whether or not this group has actually regressed, or if the Dublin game was simply a bad day. While there might be questions about squad depth, players like Caelum Larkin, Liam O’Riordan, Gearóid Maher and Ajay Cleary are among a cohort of players who would have realistic ambitions of stepping up and joining the senior county panel in the upcoming winter. A win is a lot to ask for, but a competitive showing and exerting a lot more pressure on Kilkenny than they did on Dublin shouldn’t be.
Kilkenny v Offaly, Monday, 2pm, UPMC Nowlan Park